Sisters of Magic
by Fantasyfictionwriter
Summary: What would have happened if Lily Evans had been a twin. And what would have happened if both she and a certain boy fell in love. How would that have affected the future? Would anything be different? Sequel now up 'Finding Magic'
1. Prologue

Prologue

The cries of a newborn baby filled the air. A mother fell back against the pillows of her bed and closed her eyes. Her husband stroked her hair and kissed her, as if to say 'Well done sweetheart'. She was exhausted something which everyone could see, however she had an excuse. 11:59, on the 30th of January. This was the time when a certain special person entered the earth. Actually make two special people. Twin girls, both of whom would on day be know through out the whole of the world, both for different reasons. The older of the two girls looked just like her mother, dark red hair and green almond shaped eyes. The other twin however was completely different. The blue of her eyes was blinding and the ebony black tuft of hair on the top of her head resembled her father. The cries of both the new children filled the room.

"Trust girls to be crying, their just like you, my darling", William Evans said looking at his wife and cradling the older of their newborn daughters in his arms,

"Well just to let you know I won't be doing that again for a very long time!" Elizabeth Evans told her husband, holding the younger of the twins close to her body. "Where's Petunia, I'm sure she would love to meet her new sisters?"

"She's with your mother and father, I said I would call when they arrived," and placing his daughter in the arms of his wife with her sister, "I will just go and call them and be right back."

As William left the room, Elizabeth looked at her daughters both cradled in her arms. "Well my darlings, I've waited 9 months to meet you, and you are just a beautiful as I imagined, if not more beautiful." The older of the twins began to cry. "Oh darling, shhh don't cry" The mother rocked the children in her arms, and the crying began to quieten down. "Well something tells me you are going to be just like me little one, you just ask daddy, mummy does cry and yell a lot, especially at your sister Petunia. You'll get to meet her tomorrow, I'm sure she'll love you two just as much as me and your father do."

Just then William entered the room again. "Sorry I took so long darling, Petunia refused to go to bed until I called."

"Oh goodness, she is going to be tired tomorrow; well at least she will sleep well. I was thinking about names for these two little angels. Have you got any ideas?"

"Well I thought maybe we could names one of them Rose after your grandmother."

"That's nice but I was thinking maybe Rose for a middle name, I prefer the name Lily."

"Well that takes care of one twin, what about the other, I like the name Rachel Grace, after your grandmother." Elizabeth told her husband, smiling up at him as he took baby Rachel in his arms.

"Well then, Lily Rose and Rachel Grace Evans" William put an arm around his wife's shoulders whilst handing baby Rachel back to his wife. "Welcome to the family, my angels."

"We still out number daddy in the gender department, our 3 special little girls."

As the family slept that night, mother on her hospital bed, father curled up in the chair by his wife, baby Lily fast asleep tucked up in her yellow romper suit, and finally baby Rachel. Unlike her sister and parents baby Rachel was still wide awake. The cream colour of her romper suit suited the pale completion of her skin. Her head turned of its own accord to look out of the window into the sky. Early morning was almost here and the sun was beginning to rise, the sunlight burst into the room and illuminated the baby's face, the blue of her eyes sparkled in the light. Just like her twin they were special. They were witches, and Rachel was destined to be the most powerful of them all.


	2. Chapter 1

**Hey Beth here, this chapter has taken me longer to write than I had hoped but oh well, here we go, hope you enjoy it ^_^ **

Chapter 1 – 11 years later

Rachel Evans knew there was something different about her. In fact as far back as she could remember she had felt different to the other children in her classes. What she didn't know however was just how different she was. In fact if it weren't for a very particular letter that had arrived on the doormat of her parents home that particular summer's day, Rachel would never have know just how different she was from other children.

It was early one Wednesday morning, Rachel like usual was wide wake. No matter how hard she tried she was always awake before the rest of her family, not that that was hard! Her father and sisters often slept in late, with her dad working night shifts at the local police station this wasn't a surprise, and her sisters were just plain lazy. Her mother was often up early, as otherwise both of Rachel's sisters would never get up.

This particular day started out like any other. Rachel awoke and opened her eyes. The familiar sight of her alarm clock was in front of her. 'Why do I even bother to set an alarm' Rachel thought 'I've had that alarm clock for nearly 6 years and I've always woken up before my alarm rings'. She sighed and turned the alarm off. Sitting up in bed, Rachel's eyes automatically adjusted to the darkness and her ears were filled with the sound of her twin sister Lily's snoring in the bed next to hers. 'Ugh why does she have to snore so loud, it's like sharing a room with a lion!' Rachel chuckled to herself as she swung her legs round and pulled off her purple duvet. Rachel sat there for a minute, with her legs hanging over the side of her bed, her feet resting on the floor before she reached for the blue hoodie she always kept at the end of her bed. Unlike the rest of her family, Rachel didn't have a dressing gown; she had an old faded blue hoodie she used to keep warm in the mornings, and slipped it over the top of her red pyjama top. Her fluffy pyjama trousers, hoodie and fluffy socks, a joke Christmas present from Lily which turned out to be very useful indeed, were enough to keep her warm as she shuffled out of the bedroom as not to wake her sister. As she was leaving Rachel grabbed her sketch pad and pencil case and walked into the landing. As quietly as she could, Rachel walked down the stairs, through the living room, pulled on her trainers which she kept by the back door and slipped out. Being a little bit louder now, Rachel crept to the back of the garden and climbed up the ladder into the tree house.

The tree house was Rachel's favourite spot in the whole house. Her father had built it for his children 2 years ago, but Petunia who had been 14 at the time, had firmly stated that she would never ever use it, she had stuck to her word and never set foot in the tree house, something which had amazed Lily and Rachel as they both loved the tree house to bits. Climbing up the ladder with a sketch pad under on arm and a pencil case tucked into the pocket of her hoodie, Rachel made her way up to the top of the ladder and climbed into the tree house. After taking a seat of one of the folding out beach chairs that she and Lily had placed in the tree house to make it seem more homey; Rachel opened her sketch pad to the next clean sheet of paper, and picked up her pencils. Coming up to the tree house and drawing the sunrise, had become a ritual for Rachel. Every morning for the past month Rachel had been up at sunrise and been straight out to the tree house. Her sketch book was filled with drawings of sunrises and portraits of herself and Lily; however Rachel had to be quick when drawing her twin as Lily never sat still for too long.

Although they were twins, they had completely different personalities. Lily was the more outgoing of the two; she loved meeting new people and was very talkative. Lily's favourite pastime was to run around the garden playing with the family dog, Georgia. Often at the end of the day, Lily could be found on the sofa in the living room fast asleep with Georgia on the floor beside her. Lily was always the one to pick up Georgia's lead and insist on going for a 2 hour walk to the local park and back. Rachel however was the more quiet and shy twin. If she wasn't in the twins shared bedroom, Rachel would be in the tree house with her nose in a book, drawing or plugged into her iPod. Lily would often be found wearing dresses and skirts all in light colours, Rachel however didn't own a single dress or skirt, and her wardrobe was filled with jeans, short sleeved t-shirts and hoodies. Lily always wore her dark red hair loose. Her gorgeous locks fell just short of her shoulders, and Lily often finished off her look with a pale pink hair band. Rachel on the other had took after her father. Her long ebony black hair was far longer than both her sisters; in fact Rachel's hair reached her hips before it stopped! She always tied her hair up in a plait with a red hair scrunchy at the bottom.

Rachel looked up from her drawing. 'Not bad' she thought, and putting her pencils back in her case and closing her pad, Rachel picked up her things and left the tree house.

Meanwhile inside, Elizabeth Evans had awoken and was downstairs cooking breakfast. She knew all about her youngest daughter's morning ritual.

"Morning darling, did you sleep well?" she asked Rachel as she slipped back into the house. Rachel froze. Normally she was back inside the house before her mum awoke. Turning round, Rachel half expected to see a look of annoyance on her mother's face, however as she looked up into the face of her mother, Rachel saw nothing but love in her mother's green almond shaped eyes. It was true what other adults said about her twin, Lily was the spitting image of their mother.

"Hi mum, I slept ok thanks, did you?"

"I slept fine thank you for asking, quickly go upstairs and put your drawing things away. While your there you can wake up your sisters, but leave your father to sleep. He didn't get home from work till very late last night so he needs to sleep." Rachel smiled and ran up the stairs to her and her sister's room.

After putting her pad and pencil case back in the right draw of her desk, Rachel shifted to where her sister lay still sleeping, and began to shake her awake.

"Lily, Lily. Mum says that you need to get up now. Come on lazybones, wake up!" Lily began to stir in her bed, and soon she opened her eyes and looked straight back up at her twin.

"Morning Rach, what time were you up this morning then?"

"Sunrise like normal, come on mum wants me to wake up Petunia as well, and I'm going to need you as backup!" Lily smiled and climbed out of her bed, and grabbing her pink dressing gown from its hook on the back of the door, the two sisters walked towards their older sister's bedroom.

"Ok, ready?" Rachel asked.

"Honestly Rach, why do you need to make everything sound so dramatic?" Rachel laughed at her sister's comment and pushed open her older sister's door.

Petunia's room was very different to that of her twin sisters. Petunia was obsessed with neatness, so obsessed in fact that Rachel and Lily were sure that Petunia had some form of OCD. Her sister lay sleeping underneath her cream duvet, with her hair spread out on the pillows.

"Petunia, Petunia wake up." Lily shook her sister as Rachel pulled back the covers.

"Ugh" Petunia groaned, "Go away!"

"Not a chance, come on. Mum told me to get you up." Rachel threw Petunia's snow white dressing gown at her. Petunia had had the same dressing gown for the past 4 years and still it was as white as the day she had been given it.

"RACHEL!" Petunia yelled at her sister as the dressing gown hit her smack in the face. Laughing Lily grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her out of the bedroom before Petunia had a chance to retaliate. Both sisters ran down to the kitchen laughing at their older sister's misfortune.

"MUM, Rachel threw my dressing gown at me!" Petunia came running down the stairs after her sisters, still tying the cord around her waist as she ran into the kitchen.

"Girls, stop yelling. Your father is still asleep."

"Not any more I'm not. How are my favourite girls this morning?" William said as he picked up his youngest daughter. Rachel shrieked. Her father could still pick her up and put her on his shoulders like she was a little girl. Admittedly she still was small for her age, but Rachel didn't care. She liked being small because she could get into places that both her older sisters couldn't.

"We're fine dad" Lily shrieked as her father picked her up as well as her twin and held them close to him.

"Oh dad, why do you have to be so embarrassing?" Petunia asked her father as she sat down at the table and picked up a slice of toast from the rack.

"Petunia, don't be such a spoil sport." William joked at his eldest daughter, putting down his other daughters.

"Up the table girls" Elizabeth's voice rang out from the kitchen, "there's sausages and bacon to come, so help yourself to toast but save some for me!"

Halfway through breakfast the postman arrived.

"I'll go!" cried Rachel. She leapt up from her seat and ran towards the front door. 'Ding-Dong' "Good morning Rachel, how are you today?"

"Morning Tom, I'm fine any post for me?"

"I'm not sure, there's a parcel for your mother, and… well what do we have here? Looks like both you and Lily have mail today." Tom handed over the letters to Rachel, "I just need your mum to sign for this parcel. "

"Mum, parcel for you to sign for." Elizabeth appeared behind her daughter.

"Thank you Tom."

"My pleasure, have a nice day ladies." Tom lifted his cap to the girls and turned to walk down the front pathway.

"Lily we've got a letter each!" Rachel ran back to the table and handed over the cream envelope to her sister.

"Who would be writing to us? It's not our birthday till January."

"Who cares just open it." Rachel turned over her envelope and slid her finger under the wax seal. She pulled the envelope open and pulled out a letter.

'Something about this letter seems odd', Rachel thought. She opened the letter and read out loud:

_Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

_Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

_(Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc, Chief Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards) _

_Dear Miss Evans,_

_We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment. Term begins on 1st September. Both myself and Professor Dumbledore will be visiting you and your sister Lily in due course to help you prepare for the new term. _

_Yours Sincerely _

_Minerva McGonagall _

_Deputy Headmistress _

Petunia began to laugh.

"Which one of your stupid friends sent you that then?"

"Mine says exactly the same, but the bit about visiting us says _"__you __and __your __sister __Rachel__"_ Do you think someone is messing with us Rach." Rachel stared at her letter. Could it be true, could she and Lily be witches?

"Girls," Elizabeth looked at her daughters, "Do you know anything about this?"

"Nothing mum, I swear"

"Rachel, do you?"

Rachel just continued to stare at the letter.

"Rachel?"

"Hun? No mum I know nothing I swear."

"Well it doesn't matter. When these so called teachers fail to show up, you will just look silly. God my friends are going to laugh at this!" Petunia started to laugh at her sisters, but something stopped her. It was the same thing that made everyone in the family stop what they were doing.

Someone was knocking on the door. Looking through the windows, Rachel saw who is was. It was a man and a woman. The woman had a pointy hat on her head, and the man had a long cloak and a very long white beard.

**Cliffhanger! Well not really ^_^. The next chapter will be all about what the two strangers (well there not really strangers as I'm sure well all know who they are) want with the sisters. (Again I think we can all guess that two, but oh well!) **

**Happy reading Beth ^_^**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hi Beth here again, a very observant friend of mine helped me to notice that I had spelt Dumbledore wrong! The worst part was I was copying the letter from the book, :'(**

**Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, sorry I haven't got round to thanking you before, so big hugs and cookies to you all ^_^**

**Also after reading through the reviews, I understand there is a bit of confusion about the dates. I am basing the story in 2011, not the 60's when Lily Potter would have actually gone to Hogwarts, sorry for any confusion that's my fault, anyway enough from me, here's the next chapter, happy reading!**

Chapter 2

Nobody moved. The knocking came again *Knock, Knock*. Rachel knew that someone had to answer the door, and considering that nobody looked like they were going to move, Rachel got out of her seat and walked towards the front door. She opened it and looked into the faces of the two visitors. The lady had short hair which had a few wispy strands of her black hair tumbling out of her pointed hat which rested on her head. Her emerald green robes fell to the floor stopping just a few inches short of the floor, and her face gave off a stern look. It was the old man however that Rachel couldn't stop staring at. His long white beard fell down his cloak, which was coloured with the most beautiful colours Rachel had ever seen. His cloak was full of reds, purples, greens and blues; however Rachel was drawn to his face. It was one of the kindest faces she had ever seen, the glasses the man wore magnified his big eyes which were welcoming and kind looking and his smile was aimed directly at Rachel.

"Hello my dear, you must be Rachel, how do you do?"

"Fine thanks" Rachel managed to stutter out, before realising that she hadn't invited them inside yet, and blushed when she realised how rude she was being.

"Oh my goodness I'm so sorry, please come in." Rachel backed away from the door,

"Thank you, Minerva" the old man beckoned for the woman to go inside, which she gratefully accepted, shortly followed by the old man. They both walked through to the living room which still contained the rest of Rachel's family. It was only then that Rachel noticed that nobody had moved a muscle since she had answered the door. In fact the only thing which had changed was that fact that Georgia was now fast asleep in her basket.

"Hello there, my name is Professor Albus Dumbledore and this is my deputy and second in command Professor Minerva McGonagall." Albus Dumbledore extended his hand out towards William which he took, and shook with great force. He then moved on to Elizabeth and Lily. By the time his hand reached Rachel, she had been given enough time to brace herself for the firm handshake.

"We presume that you both received your letters of acceptance?" Professor McGonagall asked, directing her gaze at Rachel and Lily. This was the first time that Professor McGonagall had spoken since Rachel had answered the door, and she found that the professor had a sweet but stern voice, which matched the expression on her face. Before Rachel could stop herself, she blurted out,

"Yes, we got them in the post this morning. Petunia thought it was one of our friends from school playing a joke, but it wasn't was it? The letters are real, aren't they?" Rachel stopped suddenly when she found her mothers gaze staring at her, it looked like she was in really big trouble until Professor Dumbledore let out a laugh and said,

"Yes my dear, the letters are real. Both you and your sister have been accepted into Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and I am here to help you make sure that you get everything you need for your first term." His face fell to Rachel's and Rachel suddenly felt at ease when she saw the same smile on his face that she had seen when she had answered the door. He reached inside his cloak and pulled out a piece of paper, which he handed directly to Rachel.

"This is a list of things you will need for your first year at Hogwarts. Read it if you like."

Rachel didn't have to be asked twice, she was enjoying this morning, and it was a changed from her normal life. She unfolded the paper and began to read.

"Uniform: Three sets of plain work robes black, one plain pointed hat black for everyday wear, one pair of protective gloves dragon hide or similar, one winter cloak black with silver fastenings, please note that all students clothing should carry name tags." Rachel continued to read the rest of the paper out loud, and when she had finished a laughing sound could be heard. Looking up Rachel noticed that Petunia was still sitting at the table laughing away at her sister.

"The Standard Book of Spells, Magic Drafts and Potions, a wand and a cauldron." Petunia didn't even finish her sentence before she fell apart laughing. After what seemed like forever she finally began to pull herself together enough to mummer "That's the best load of nonsense I have ever heard in my life."

"My dear I can assure you that every item on that list is real and can be purchased in Diagon Alley."

"Which is where we should be heading," and turning to face Rachel and Lily he said "Go and get changed out of your pyjamas girls and we will be on our way." Rachel and Lily were half way towards the door, when they heard their mother's voice.

"Now wait just a minute! You arrive at our home dressed in ridiculous clothing at half past 9 in the morning and say that you are taking my children to some alley somewhere to buy items that they will be needed for some magic school. I don't think so; I would like you to leave now before I call the police."

That was enough for Professor McGonagall who finally decided that it was time for her to talk. "Now you listen to me madam, you may not believe in magic but your daughters possess a unique and beautiful gift, they do believe. If you look back in your family history, you will discover that your grandmother, Violet, was herself a witch. She attended Hogwarts and became a true witch. She could cast spells, make potions and generally just do magical things. Your daughters have been given an opportunity to learn just as she did, and might I point out that this isn't a gift which is bestowed onto every 11 year old in the word!" Rachel stared at the professor. Nobody had ever spoken about her great grandmother before. Her grandparents refused to talk about her at all, and so of course her mother didn't know much about her grandmother. For once Rachel noted, her mother was speechless. Her father came up behind his wife and took a hold of her shoulders.

"Now listen dear, these people are clearing not going to stop until Rachel and Lily goes with them so how about we make a bargain." William turned to face the two professors and his daughters. "Now listen the girls can go with you to this Diagon Alley" Rachel and Lily ran up to their father and hugged him, "But I will also be coming with you. I'm not having my daughter's go off with random strangers without myself or my wife present, have I made myself clear?" Professor McGonagall looked as if she was about to protest, but Professor Dumbledore found his voice first.

"If that is how you feel sir, then we would be more that happy for you to come along with us."

Rachel and Lily looked at their father with a look of pure delight, and both quickly ran upstairs to their bedroom to change before anyone could tell them otherwise.

**There we go, a little shorter than I had planned but all that means is that I can continue writing the next chapter, which should hopefully be up soon. Anyway if you have any comments about my story please feel free to message me or (even better) leave a review ^_^!**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hi all, I would just like to say thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story so far, it really means a lot to me. A very good friend of mine reviewed my last chapter and decided to give me constructive criticism. I would like to say a big thank you to her, and I would also like to dedicate this chapter to her as it was her birthday recently (sorry its so late Nicky) anyway, Happy Birthday Nicky *^_^*, hope you had a great day! (Her name is Dragonsgirl16 btw and I would really recommend her stories they are absolutely great) also I have been asked by Dragonsgirl16 to include Lily a bit more so part of this chapter will be from Lily's pov, just to let you know.**

Chapter 3

Rachel and Lily ran up to their room and pushed open the door. A familiar sight greeted their eyes. The walls were coloured cream with a white carpet lining the floor. The walls held pictures from family days out hung in picture frames, twin beds were pushed up against two of the four walls and a bookshelf stood attached to the wall above each bed. Rachel ran to the wardrobe the twins shared (although mainly all the clothes in it were Lily's) and pulled out the first pair of jeans and a top that she found. Sliding her pyjama top over her head Rachel threw the top onto her duvet. "Do you really have to be that messy?" Lily meanwhile had taken off her pyjama top and folded it nicely and placed it back under her duvet.

"Lil you know me, I don't do clean and tidy!" Lily laughed. Rachel always had to be told to put away her sketch pad and pencils otherwise they would be left all over the house for someone to step on. Although the funny thing was that when she finally did tidy up after herself, she put everything in its own specific place. Her sketch pad and pencil case always went back into the same draw, her clothes were always hung in height order, her long trousers at one end and tops at the other, shoes always had to be in pairs and in an order which only Rachel knew. Lily on the other hand, although she was tidy she was nowhere near as extreme as her sister, her clothes were always hung in the wardrobe and when she took something off, it either went in the washing or back in the wardrobe.

After pulling on her top and trousers Rachel ran into the bathroom and collided with Petunia as she came up the stairs. "You do realise that this is all one big joke? You are going to look absolutely ridiculous walking around town with those people." Petunia laughed and walked into her room, phone in hand. Rachel glared at her sisters retreating figure. Petunia seemed to be attached to her phone lately. It was all because of Vernon, Petunia's new boyfriend. Ever since he had asked her out at the beginning of the summer, they hadn't stopped texting or calling each other. Rachel thought it was disgusting, Vernon looked like a walking walrus, what Petunia saw in him she would never know.

Walking into the bathroom Rachel pulled out her purple toothbrush, and after putting toothpaste on it, began to clean her teeth. Lily joined her soon after and Rachel looked at Lily. Apart from their hair and eye colour they were identical, and today they were more identical than ever. Lily's clothes mirrored Rachel's exactly right down to the crease in her top. Both sisters burst out laughing, this often happened to them. _'__How __do __we __keep __doing __this?__' _Lily thought.

'_No __idea __but __you __have __to __admit ,__it's__cool!__'_ Rachel thought back. Since before they could remember both twins could read each others thoughts. This came in very handy in classes when they couldn't pass notes. Many times Lily has had to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing at the comments Rachel had been thinking about their teachers. Nobody else apart from the twins knew about the telepathy they shared.

Lily's POV

After finishing cleaning my teeth, both Rachel and I ran back downstairs to see dad pulling on his shoes and his coat. To my surprise Professor Dumbledore had disappeared from the sofa. "Where's Professor Dumbledore gone?" I asked. Professor McGonagall answered almost immediately.

"He has had to go, so urgent business with the Ministry of Magic or so the letter said."

"Letter? How did he get a letter so quickly, Tom the postman has already delivered our post this morning?"

"By owl my dear, so much more reliable than postmen."

'_Owl__'_ I thought, Rachel looked at me with the same confused expression on her face.

"Don't worry my dears, I'll explain all about our world on our journey to London."

True to her word, Professor McGonagall explained all about Owl post services, wands, Quidditch and many other magical things on the train up to London. I have never seen so many people staring at us as we went about our journey, and I thought that when Professor McGonagall started talking most people looked like they were going to call the police and tell them that a madwoman was on the lose.

"Don't worry my dear, I cast a silencing spell over us when we boarded the train, nobody can hear what we are talking about." I turned to look at Rachel,

'_How did she know what I was thinking?'_

'_No idea but something tells me that we are going to have to be more careful with our though conversations in future!' _

After pulling into London Professor McGonagall pulled us into a little pub on the corner of a busy street. It was here that she told us that we were going to be using the floo network. Now if I wasn't confused before I certainly was now. The floo network involved standing in an unlit fire and throwing down a handful of floo powder and speaking clearly the name of the place you wanted to visit. Professor McGonagall asked if either of us wanted to go first. Dad volunteered to go first to make sure that it was safe. Rachel volunteered to go next and then it was my turn. After taking a handful of the floo powder, I stepped into the fireplace and spoke out, "The Leaky Caldron". I was immediately engulfed in green flames and suddenly I felt a strange feeling I had never felt before. I closed my eyes and hoped that the whole experience would soon be over as I had begun to feel quite sick.

"Lil, you ok?" Opening my eyes I looked into the familiar gaze of my sister and the unfamiliar surroundings of a packed pub, "You look green!" Suddenly the feeling of nausea came back to me and I clasped my hand over my mouth.

"Here, drink this it will make you fell better" Professor McGonagall handed me a vial filled with some kind of liquid, I felt too sick to ask what it was so I drank it all.

"What is that you're giving my daughter?"

"It's an anti-nausea potion; it will make her feel better. When you travel by floo for the first time you often feel sick, do either of you want one as well?" She turned to Rachel and Dad. Rachel shook her head but dad held out his hand. He looked just a green as I felt.

After dad had drank his potion Rachel asked if we felt any better. Both me and dad were amazed to be able to say that we felt much better. "Good" Professor McGonagall said, "Come with me." We walked through the packed pub towards a door. We soon found ourselves in a very small and cramped yard facing a brick wall. "I don't mean to sound stupid," dad began, "but where are we going? Neither myself or my daughters can walk through walls." Professor McGonagall turned to face dad and gave him a death stared, the kind mum gives him when he does something wrong. Both me and Rachel were in hysterics in our heads. Professor McGonagall tapped out a complicated pattern on the brick wall in front of us, with what looked like a stick she pulled from her robes. When she had finished tapping the bricks began to move and opened up into an archway. None of us dared to breathe. "Welcome to Diagon Alley, my dears."

Rachel's POV

I looked out onto a small little street with shop after shop after shop. Delicious smells filled my nostrils of sweets and spices. Each shop sold something different, I saw lots of signs each with a more ridiculous name than the one before it, but what surprised me the most were the people walking about. Sure there were a few children in jeans like me and Lily, but everyone else was wearing robes, suddenly I felt out of place, Petunia had been wrong it wasn't Professor McGonagall that looked weird anymore. Muffled conversation filled my ears along with the chatter of excited children, and screeching of animals from a shop in the middle of the street. "Professor…" I began

"Yes my dear, what it is?"

"… … … Nothing" I felt any question I could ask would seem stupid. This was like something out of a fairy tale.

"Well come on then, we haven't got all day, first stop is Gringott's Bank, you will need some money to buy your equipment."

"What do you mean; I have some money with me in my wallet." Dad looked very confused, in fact we all did.

"That's muggle money; you can't use muggle money here. You'll need to exchange it which is why we will be going to the bank." Before any of us could ask what a muggle was Professor McGonagall had already begun walking towards the huge building at the end of the street. We all quickly followed.

That morning became the strangest in my life. After Professor McGonagall helped dad exchange quite a bit of money into Knuts, Sickles and Galleons (which was apparently the currency used by witches and wizards) we began shopping. Now begin a girl most people would think that shopping would be one of my favourite past times, in truth I can't stand shopping. I think it is a ridiculous waste of time. I would rather spend it reading a book, listening to music or drawing. Our first stop was 'Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions shop', where we got (funnily enough) our school robes. We then entered my favorite kind of shop; a book store. It was called 'Flourish and Blotts' and it was here that Professor McGonagall told us that we could get all the books we would need for our first year at Hogwarts. I stared at the list of books we had to buy; they had the strangest titles I had ever seen in my life:

The Standard Book of Spells

A history of Magic (Dad also picked up a copy of that to try and understand more about magic I guess)

Magical Theory

A beginners Guide to Transfiguration

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi

Magical Drafts and Potions

Fantastic Beasts and Where to find them (and finally)

The Dark forces: A guide to self-protection.

After picking up two copies of everything we headed to another shop which according to Professor McGonagall was the most important shop in all of Diagon Alley; 'Ollivander's Wand Shop'.

Professor McGonagall opened the door for us and we all slid into the shop. There was another boy ahead of us being sorted with his wand. "I assure you that this is the perfect wand for you my boy." The man gave the wand to the young boy and looked over at us, his pale completion, white hair and silvery eyes seemed friendly enough. He nodded at Professor McGonagall, and she nodded back.

"Well I suppose it will do." The man was suddenly pulled back into a sale with the boy in front of us, and another man who I can only assume was his father. The older man handed over some money to the shop owner and turned to leave the store.

"Minerva McGonagall, what a pleasant surprise" the man smiled slyly at Professor McGonagall not seeming at all pleased to see her,

"You also Abraxas; I assume this is your son Lucius?"

"He is indeed," he stared at me and Lily. Suddenly I came over with an uneasy feeling of coldness. I shivered suddenly which made Lily grab my arm.

'You ok?' she asked

'Fine, just … … … don't worry I'll tell you later'

"These are Lily and Rachel Evans, two new students who will be in Lucius' year. I am helping them with their shopping considering they are new to the magical world."

I could have sworn I heard Abraxas mutter "mud-bloods" under his breath, and I was sure his eyes flashed brighter than they had been a minute ago.

"Cutting it a bit close aren't they? The term starts in 2 weeks."

"I could say the same about you; these girls only received their letters this morning."

"We've been away since the beginning of the summer visiting relatives" dad said, "I'm William Evans, Lily and Rachel's father" Dad held out his hand to the man, who took it with reluctantly.

"Abraxas Malfoy, this is my son Lucius. Well I don't mean to be rude but we have a lot of things we need to do, good day Professor" and with that Abraxas Malfoy left the shop his robes billowing out behind him, Lucius followed him deliberately bumping into my arm as he left.

"Be careful why don't you?"

"What a charming you boy, just like his father, now then Professor what can I do for you today?"

"Good morning Garrick, I would like to introduce Lily and Rachel Evans. They are new students who will be starting at Hogwarts in September; could you maybe help them find suitable wands?"

"My pleasure Minerva, if you would be so kind as to follow me young ladies." Lily and I followed the man to a shelf full of boxes of all shapes and sizes. He began pulling some out and inspecting them, finally he handed one to Lily.

"Try that my dear, just give it a flick." Lily took the wand from him and flicked it up in the air. The end of the wand glowed white.

"Ah yes that should be perfect for you my dear, it's 10¼ inches and made from Willow wood, very swishy good for casting charms. Now let's get you sorted." He turned to face me.

"That's very kind of you Mr.…" I trailed off not knowing what to call him.

"Mr Ollivanders my dear, what a polite young lady you are, now let's find you a wand." Mr Ollivanders began to rummage around on his shelves again eventually pulling out another box.  
>"Here try this one." I opened the box to reveal the most beautiful wand I had ever seen, (Ok admittedly I haven't seen that many but oh well.)<p>

"It's beautiful," I removed the wand from its box with the greatest of care and as soon as I touched the wand I felt a warming sensation in the pit of my stomach which seemed to elope me in its warmth. Just like Lily's wand the tip glowed white.

"Perfect my dear that is your wand. It 10¼ inches just like your sisters, but yours is made from rowan wood, do you know I believe that you may be the only first year to have a wand made of rowan wood this year."

"Thank you Mr Ollivanders, I love it!"

Once we had paid for our wands and the rest of our equipment, Professor McGonagall told us we had one last stop before we could go home. We walked up to 'Eeylops Owl Emporium'. The owls in the shop window were absolutly gorgeous especially the tawny owl at the back.

"Well then which do you want girls? You can have one each or one between the two of you if you like."

"Can we have one each dad?" Lily asked looking up at dad her green eyes enlarged.

"Please dad?" I looked up at dad as well blinking my eyes rapidly.

"… … Alright which owls do you want then?" Lily and I smiled we always knew how to get round dad. Lily ended up with a brown owl which she called Willow, and I chose the tawny owl I had seen before and called her Tehya, which means 'precious'.

The train ride home was the quietest I have ever been. Lily and dad were talking about all of the exiting things that she thought she would be getting up to at Hogwarts. I, on the other hand, was looking through 'Hogwarts: A history' which I had bought from 'Flourish and Blotts'. Looking out of the window I watched as the countryside rolled on for miles. Tehya rattled in her cage, I put my finger up to the bars and she rubbed against then. I turned my head again to stare out of the window, wondering what would be happening in my future, wondering where my life would now be heading now that I knew the truth about myself. I was a witch.

**Well there we go another chapter for you all. I probably won't post another chapter before Christmas so I'll wish you all a 'Merry Christmas' and a "Happy New Year" now. I wonder if you would all be so kind as to review my chapter, that would be the best prezzie anyone could ever give me ^_^, also just incase you hadn't figured it out the text in italics are thoughts. Anyway have fun over Christmas and I hope to post another chapter in the New Year. "Happy rest of 2011" everyone!**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hi all, I'm back again. Well I hope you all had a great Christmas and this year is great for all, I hope you enjoy my latest chapter, I will be splitting this chapter into both Lily and Rachel's POV and will be introducing a few old faces to this chapter! ^_^ Enjoy**

**And I also forgot to mention this on my other chapters but I don't own Harry Potter, wish I did but I don't, I only own Rachel and Madeline. **

Chapter 4

Rachel's POV

'Well this was great!' I was walking around the Hogwarts express trying desperately to find the compartment that my sister was in, so far no luck. 'This train is huge, how am I supposed to find Lily? I suppose I will just have to find an empty or quiet compartment to sit in for the rest of the trip.'

I had been looking for Lily for over half an hour now and I was amazed that she hadn't found me yet. I had walked down the train to the toilets to get changed into my school robes, once I was changed I walked back to the compartment Lily and I had been sitting in before (luckily the toilets were only 4 compartments down!) and put my clothes away, pulled out my iPod and my 'Magical Drafts and Potions' book and started reading. I was about 10 minutes later that I realised I was alone in the compartment still. I looked out the door for any sign of Lily and found nothing, I realised then that I would probably have to go looking for her around the train, I groaned. My sense of direction is absolutly rubbish, it took me ages to find my way around our home town, sometimes I still got lost. Professor McGonagall had told us the day she took us to Diagon Alley that there would be people on the train to help us find our way around; so far no-one had offered to help me. I moved down the carriage hoping to find an empty compartment, however they were all full. Sighing I realised it was hopeless; everyone seemed to know everyone and didn't have time for a newbie like me. It had been the same when we pulled into the station this morning.

King's Cross Station had been packed. 'Well' I thought to myself, 'what did I expect, this is London?' According to Professor McGonagall, to get the platform we had to depart from, Platform 9¾, we needed to run at the wall between platforms 9 and 10. This had set Petunia off again. "Run at a brick wall, like that's going to work, all your going to get is a very bad headache!" Mum had sent Petunia off to her room for that, ever since Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore had turned up at our house, mum had been researching into great grandma Violet's past, and to her surprise her parents had been very co-operative. They had said that they didn't say anything when mum was little as they didn't want to scare her and since mum hadn't shown any sign of magic powers they thought it had all stopped. Turns out it had just skipped a generation. Mum had found out that 4 generations of our family (including great grandma Violet) had been admitted to Hogwarts and they had all been in either Gryffindor or Ravenclaw. Since then Lily and me had been getting more and more excited about going to Hogwarts, when ever Lily went out for a walk with Georgia she came back with crazy ideas about what Hogwarts was going to be like. I however had been working my way through all the books we had bought at Diagon Alley, and found that they were all very interesting, especially Magical Drafts and Potions and A history of Magic. I had decided that I was going to try my very hardest in Potions class as it seemed very interesting and fun.

Turning my mind back to the problem in hand, I still had no idea where I was going and no idea where my compartment was. I turned the corner and saw the boy that we had bumped into when we went to get our wands. Lucius Malfoy, I think his name is? He was standing with a group students that I didn't know however they all stood out from the crowd. They were defiantly taller than me (but that isn't that much of a surprise, everyone is taller than me!) and they were all dressed in their school robes.

I turned back the other way quickly before they saw me. It wasn't that I'm scared of him because I'm not, in fact there is only one thing in the world I scared of (well one main thing) and that's losing my family. Walking further down the train I spotted what I thought was an empty compartment, and quickly made my way inside. It wasn't empty; there was one occupant, a small boy with long black hair. He looked up from his book as I slipped into the carriage his eyes staring right at me, it made me think liked I'd done something wrong.

"Sorry, I thought this was empty, I'll go."

"No, its ok you can stay if you like, there won't be anymore empty carriages left this long into the journey. Take a seat." I sat down opposite the boy and looked at the title of his book, Magical Drafts and Potions.

"Have you read it fully yet?" I gestured towards the book.

"Yes, I wanted to be well prepared for my first year."

"Me too, although I did find it a great book to read, I'm re-reading it again."

"Really?" The boy looked shocked, 'Great, well done Rachel' I scolded myself, 'the first person you met and he already thinks your weird! And you're not even at Hogwarts yet!'

"Yeah," I decided that it was best to tell the truth, even if he didn't speak to me for the rest of the journey, "I like reading."

"Me too," the boy looked at me more closely. "I'm Severus, Severus Snape." He held out his hand.

"Rachel, Rachel Evans" I took the boys outstretched hand and shook it.

"Are you a first year too?" I nodded back.

"How much do you know about Hogwarts?"

"Only what I have read in books."

"So you're a muggle-born?"

"What's a muggle-born?" Severus looked at me like I had just asked the most stupidest question known to man.

"I guess that answers my question" he murmured to himself before saying, "A muggle born is someone who was born and bought up in the muggle world, someone with non-magical parents."

"Oh, in that case yeah I'm a muggle-born. What about you?"

"I'm a half blood, my father was a muggle and my mother was a witch."

"Cool."

Lily's POV

'Where was she?' I'd been up and down the corridors so many times that I'd lost count. 'She can't have gotten lost already… actually maybe she can!' Rachel has the worst sense of direction in the world. After I had changed into my school robes I had decided to go for a walk along the train. I was just coming back along the corridor when I pumped into a girl coming out of one of the toilets. The first thing I noticed about her was her short black hair; it was just as dark as Rachel's. "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry!" the girl appeared to be very flustered.

"Don't worry; it was my fault I should have been paying more attention."

"No, I should have looked to see if anyone was coming down the corridor." Suddenly we both started laughing; here we were standing in the middle of the corridor arguing about whose fault it was that we bumped into each other!

"I'm Alice Francis," the girl said "I'm a first year, what about you?"

"I'm Lily Evans, also a first year. Actually maybe you could help me, have you seen a girl walk by here at anytime with very long black hair tied in a plait?"

"No, sorry can't say I have. Is she your friend?"

"No she's my sister; we're twins. Somehow I seem to have lost her." Alice began to laugh,

"Sorry I can't be much help; do you want some help trying to find her? I know a few people in one of the carriages down the back, maybe they could help us?"

"That would be fantastic, would they mind?"

"No of course not, come on I'll introduce you." Alice grabbed my arm and we began to walk down the train to carriage Alice was pointing at. She opened the door and inside was 4 boys and another girl. Alice sat down next to the girl and beckoned me to the same.

"Everyone this is Lily Evans, she a first year like us, Lily these are the friends I was telling you about."

"Hello," for some reason I'd come over all shy, it wasn't like me; normally I'm the loud twin.

"Nice to meet you Lily, I'm Madeline Cross, but I prefer Maddy." Maddy had long brown hair that fell just after her shoulders, brown eyes and kind smile. The boys didn't offer any names, so Alice spoke for them,

"Honestly you guy, why do you have to be so unsociable, Lily this is Remus Lupin," she pointed to a boy with a book in his hands,

"Nice to meet you," he held out his hand, I shock it.

"This is Frank Longbottom," the next boy smiled at both me and Alice, she blushed and carried on introducing

"This is Sirius Black," the boy gave me flirtatious smile, "leave her alone Sirius!" Alice scolded him

"And this is" The boy interrupted before Alice could introduce him.

"James, James Potter, nice to meet you." He took my hand and kissed it, I slapped him. Alice and Maddy gasped, Sirius looked like his eyes were going to pop out of his head and I could have sworn I heard Remus and Frank chuckle. James looked horrified, his eyed widened and his cheek had started to turn red, in fact both his cheeks started to go red, I could resist embarrassing him further.

"Sorry about that" I said, "Force of habit, when someone grabs me I slap them."

Remus, Frank, Alice and Maddy all began to laugh.

"Nice one" Maddy cried "He needs taking down a peg or two." Alice reached over and tapped my arm, "Do you want to go looking for your sister?"

"Oh yes thank you for reminding me Alice, would anyone like to help? My twin sister has a terrible sense of direction and has managed to get herself lost on the train no doubt, would you mind helping me look for?"

"Sure I'll help" said Maddy, "I need to stretch my legs."

Remus and Frank turned to each other, "We'll help too" Frank replied

"What her name and what does she look like?"

"Her names Rachel, she has very long black hair always tied in a plait and bright blue eyes, you can't miss them."

"So your not identical twins then?"

"Nope, Rachel looks like dad, and I look like mum."

"Ok so Remus if searches the back of the train with Frank, we'll start at the front and meet each other in the middle." Maddy's voice had a very sharp Newcastle accent to it, and nobody to dared to question her plan, so we set off hoping Rachel wasn't too far away.

Rachel's POV

"What's that?" Severus gestured to my iPod in my hand,

"Oh, that my iPod." He looked blank; I guessed he hadn't heard about them. Being bought up with magic, he mustn't have had much time for muggle gadgets.

"It plays music and films and I can play games on, it also take pictures look." I turned on the camera and put it in front of his face,

"Smile" I pressed the button and turned my iPod round to show him the picture. I could have sworn I saw the beginning of a smile creeping onto his lips.  
>"Clever" he said, "What sort of music do you like?"<p>

"Oh anything really, but I have to say that my favourite band is ABBA. I love their music."

"Really they were Swedish weren't they?"

"Yes, you've heard of them, nobody I talk to seems to have ever heard of ABBA."

"My mum's a bit of a fan."

"What music do you like?"

"Not much I don't listen to it often; I do however have a weakness for David Bowie."

"Really, have you ever seen Labyrinth?"

"What's Labyrinth?" I gasped; you couldn't be a David Bowie fan and not know what Labyrinth was. I gestured to him to put his book away and gave him one of my earphones. He put it in and I switched to the films section and put on Labyrinth.

It was about 20 minutes later that a boy's head appeared round the door, I looked up. He had soft brown hair which matched his eyes; a small scar was positioned above his left eye, so small in fact that it was hardly visible.  
>"Sorry are you Rachel?"<p>

"Yes, who are you?"  
>"I'm Remus; your sister's looking for you."<p>

'Finally!' I was beginning to wonder if Lily had forgotten about me.

"Thanks, do know where she is?"

"Yes looking for you at the other end of the train with Alice and Maddy." At that point I started to feel bad, just how many people were looking for me?  
>"Do you know how I could get there, I'm awful with directions." Remus laughed,<p>

"Come on we'll take you to our carriage and she can meet you there." 'We'll' that made me feel worse, Severus tapped me on the shoulder and handed back my iPod before going back to his book.

"Hey why don't you come to? Lily would love to me you, and she's really nice I promise."

"Thanks but no thanks, I'm not good with meeting new people."

"Oh I'm so sorry, you should have told me to shut up."  
>"Don't worry, I liked talking to you, and nobody has ever showed me Labyrinth before." I giggled, again I could have sworn I saw a smile.<p>

"Well I guess I'll see at Hogwarts then, maybe we can sit together?"

"Sure if we get sorted into the same house."

"Ok then it's a deal, if we get into the same house will sit together at dinner." I held out my hand and he shook it.

"So," I said turning back to Remus, "Where's your carriage?"

Lily's POV

'Ok now this was just plain ridiculous!' Me, Alice and Maddy had been through every compartment in the first half of the train, no sign of Rachel, and now to make matters worse Remus and Frank had disappeared. We decided after 10 minutes of waiting for them, to return to the carriage we were in earlier, and just as we neared the carriage the boy from the wand shop came by and stuck his foot out making Alice trip over. Maddy glared at him as I tried helped Alice up.

"You did that on purpose!" I moved over to be able to grab Maddy if she need it.

"So what, what are you gonna do about it?" he glared at Maddy, I realised then just how tall he was. Ok Maddy was taller than me, but I'm only 5 foot 4, Rachel's 5 foot 2 and that boy… he had to be at least 5 foot 8, if not taller!

"You watch it buddy, no one messes with my friends and gets away with it."

"Again what are you gonna do about small girl." His friends began to edge him on, I realised that Maddy was fighting a losing battle.

"Maddy drop it, he's not worth it."

"Lily's right, come on Maddy."

"Oh so you're Madeline are you?" another of his friends jeered at her.

"It's Maddy, and what's it got to do with you?" Maddy shot him a death stared, and if looks could kill… well lets just say I wouldn't have liked to be on the receiving end of that stare! The door to the carriage opened and Frank stuck his head out.

"There you are, we've been waiting for ages. Alice why are you on the floor?"

"This jerk tripped her up." Maddy replied before Alice had chance.

"Oh you did, did you? Isn't that a bit below you Lucius, tripping up young girls?" Frank held out his hand to Alice who accepted it gratefully, I meanwhile was trying unsuccessfully to pull Maddy away.

"Leave it Maddy!" I whispered in her ear.

"Frank are you coming back, it's your go." At this point Rachel appeared from the carriage, "Oh, hi Lily, Frank and Remus found me."

"Good, I swear you need a map of everywhere Rachel."

Rachel's POV

"So your Rachel then?" Lucius asked

"What's that got to do with you, are you all right?" I gestured in Lily and the other girls' direction.

"We're fine." Said the girl Frank was helping, I think I heard her name was Alice, Lily was still trying to pull a brunette away from Lucius, I guessed she must be Maddy.

"Well I like to know all the mud-bloods who start in our year, not that they deserve to be there!" His friends began laughing and this time Maddy had to hold Lily back as she went to punch him.

"Lil come on, like you said he's not worth it." By now everyone was watching the scene unfold, everyone was looking out of carriage doors, Remus and the others included. I walked up to Lucius with the full intention of punching the living daylights out of him. I realised though that I couldn't give him the satisfaction of knowing that he'd got one over on me.

"You know, mud-bloods might not have as much magic in there families as you do, but we sure as hell have more manners than you will ever have Lucius, so why don't you and your … associates back off and stop harassing me and friends, ok?" I turned around and started to slowly walk back to the carriage spotting a certain black haired boy peaking out of a carriage a few doors down, I smiled to him.

"Freak" I stopped dead, anger flashed in my eyes, I turned to face Lucius, for a moment I thought I saw fear in his eyes, then all I saw was a bright white light, and suddenly Lucius Malfoy and his friends were scattered on the floor. Everyone gasped and stared at me, even Lily. I thought to myself 'What just happened? I got mad and suddenly…' my thoughts were interrupted by a cheering coming from my friends, Maddy spoke first.

"Way to go Rachel, how on earth did you learn to do that?"

"Do what?"

"That spell, it's really advanced and to perform it without your wand…" Frank's voice trailed off as Lucius began to get up.

"I'll get you for that girl; you'd better watch your back."

"You'll have to go through me first!" said Lily, stepping next to me.

"And us!" Alice, Maddy, Frank, Remus, Sirius and James were all standing right behind me.

"Thanks guys, sorry you were saying something Lucius?"

He turned and sauntered back down the corridor, the other's pulled me into the carriage.

"Rachel, how did you do that?" Lily had a hint of worry in her voice; she'd always been protective of me.

"Honestly I don't know, I got mad and … it just happened. Is there something wrong with me?"

"I don't think so," Remus spoke up, "maybe your magic is developing early?"

"Maybe… anyway do you mind if we forget about it, let's just go back to playing cards, the boys have been teaching me to play exploding snap."

I tried to take my mind off the magic incident, but the truth was I had a strange feeling I'd done it before. Years ago when I was really young when I didn't even know magic existed. I remember getting really angry with a girl who'd been bulling me, suddenly I just saw a white light and then she was on the floor a little way away from me. She said I'd done it, something magical. Of course no one believed her they thought she fell, but I always had this feeling that it was me, I'd done it, how I didn't know, but I'd done it, and it scared me, it really and truly scared me. I thought back and it was the same light, the same feeling, everything, and if I could do that when I was 4 or 5, then what could I do now I was 11? I could really seriously hurt someone. And what if that someone was really close to me, what if it was Lily? I would never forgive myself if I hurt her or Severus, or Alice, or Remus or any of the other. I needed to talk to someone, someone who could help, someone who understood what of this all was. I needed to talk to Professor Dumbledore, and I needed to talk to him soon…

**Well there we go another chapter done, please leave a review and hopefully I will have another chapter in 2 weeks. Happy reading Beth!**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hi all, well this was posted quicker than I thought ^_^, but that's good as far as I can see, Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't Harry Potter, only Rachel, Maddy, Isabelle and Hunter are my own characters. **

Chapter 5

The train pulled into the station and finally came to a halt. Lily quickly grabbed hold of Rachel so she couldn't get lost. "All first years over here, all first years over here!" a loud voice boomed over the chatter of the students, and a little lamp could be seen above the heads of all the students. Holding it was as a man who towered above everyone.  
>"Hello Hagrid" someone called out<p>

"Ello" Hagrid replied.

'He's huge!' Lily told her sister telepathically

'I know, maybe he's a giant!'

"All first years over here! Right is that everyone" Hagrid scanned the crowd of students surrounding him. "Alright follow me!" All the students followed Hagrid towards a huge lake where lots of little boats were floating in the water.

"No more than four to a boat." Rachel and Lily climbed into a boat with Alice and Maddy, whilst James, Sirius, Frank and Remus climbed into the boat next to the girls. Rachel looked around for any sign of Severus, but saw nothing.

"Everyone in the boats, right hold on tight and make sure that you stay in the boats at all times. FORWARD!" The little boats jerked slightly then slowly made there way forwards towards the giant castle.

Rachel stared ahead of her at the huge castle which they were making there way to. Turrets stood in each corner of the castle and lights shined out of every window. The boats pulled up outside the castle and all the students evacuated the boats. The boys pulled up first and helped the girls out. Frank took hold of Alice's hand, she blushed scarlet even in the dark everyone could see it, Sirius held his hand out to Maddy, James to Lily and Remus to Rachel.

Rachel's POV

I thanked Remus as he helped me out of the boat. James had grabbed Lily's hand and helped her out, she looked a little annoyed but also a little queasy at the same time, boats had never been Lily's strong point. I looked around the heads of students to see if I could find Severus, but all I could see was hair, of course me being short didn't really help much. I turned to Remus, being that he was taller than me; I thought he would have a better view.

"Hey Remus," he looked back at me, "Can you see Severus, that boy I was sitting with when you found me on the train?" Remus looked over the heads of some of the students.

"No sorry, everyone looks the same in this light. I'll have a better look once we are inside, come on."

Remus and I wandered after the reams of students who had already gone inside the castle, but still there was no sign of Severus. Suddenly Hagrid's voice boomed out over the top of the chatter of students.

"Now all of you wait here with Professor McGonagall. I'll see you all in the great hall later." With that Hagrid turned and left the castle accidently banging into me and Remus and sending us crashing to the floor.

"Oh dear, I'm sorry. Here let me help you up." Hagrid held out his hands for me and Remus which we both took gladly. "Here, your Rachel Evans aren't you?" Hagrid said turning to face me.

"Yes, how did you know that?"

"Professor Dumbledore told me about you, he said he's very excited that you've come to Hogwarts this year, and now I understand why." I looked puzzled, why was Professor Dumbledore so excited about me in particular, he couldn't know about my extreme magic already, … could he? Just then a dog bounded into the room and came running straight towards Hagrid. Remus and I stared at the dog, it had three heads!

"Fluffy! I told you to wait in my hut, how did you get out you naughty dog?" I bent down to stroke the dog's heads; it turned to look at me, and then began to nuzzle at my legs.  
>"Who's a good dog then?"<p>

"Wow, he has taken a real like to you, he's not normally friendly towards new people."

"Well I'm honoured, he's lovely."

"If you think he's lovely wait until you see Buckbeak, now he's a real beauty."

"Who's Buckbeak?"

"He's a hippogriff, come down to my hut tomorrow and I'll introduce you."

"Thanks Hagrid, I will. Would I be able to draw him, so my parents can see what he looks like?"

"Of course, come after last lesson." Hagrid turned and left the castle with Fluffy hot on his heels.

Remus and I turned back to Professor McGonagall and managed to catch the last of her speech before we were all ushered into the Great Hall where we would be sorted into our houses. As we entered I noticed the ceiling, it was beautiful. The whole room was lit with candles that floated high above our heads, hundreds upon hundreds of students sat at long wooden tables, all dressed in black school robes. At the head of the room sat teachers and staff members, and in the middle of them sat Professor Dumbledore. I smiled in his direction when we entered the room and he smiled back. We walked past the students until we finally stopped in front of a stool with an old worn and tattered hat sitting on it. Professor McGonagall gestured for us to stop, and she walked up to the hat.

Suddenly the hat seemed to come to life. It wrinkled itself until we could see a face emerge, at which point it began to talk, or rather to sing.

_Oh you may not think I'm pretty,_  
><em>But don't judge on what you see,<em>  
><em>I'll eat myself if you can find<em>  
><em>A smarter hat than me.<em>

_You can keep your bowlers black,_  
><em>Your top hats sleek and tall,<em>  
><em>For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat<em>  
><em>And I can cap them all.<em>

_There's nothing hidden in your head_  
><em>The Sorting Hat can't see,<em>  
><em>So try me on and I will tell you<em>  
><em>Where you ought to be.<em>

_You might belong in Gryffindor,_  
><em>Where dwell the brave at heart,<em>  
><em>Their daring, nerve, and chivalry<em>  
><em>Set Gryffindors apart;<em>

_You might belong in Hufflepuff,_  
><em>Where they are just and loyal,<em>  
><em>Those patient Hufflepuffs are true<em>  
><em>And unafraid of toil;<em>

_Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,_  
><em>if you've a ready mind,<em>  
><em>Where those of wit and learning,<em>  
><em>Will always find their kind;<em>

_Or perhaps in Slytherin_  
><em>You'll make your real friends,<em>  
><em>Those cunning folks use any means<em>  
><em>To achieve their ends.<em>

_So put me on! Don't be afraid!_  
><em>And don't get in a flap!<em>  
><em>You're in safe hands (though I have none)<em>  
><em>For I'm a Thinking Cap!<em>

Everyone clapped at the song me included. The hat had a sort of angelic and melancholic voice, which could easily send you to sleep if you let it. As the clapping stopped Professor McGonagall stepped closer to the hat.

"Now students, when I call your name I want you to step forward and sit on the stool, ok let us begin. Abbott, Catherine?"

A shy and nervous girl began to walk towards the stool, she sat and Professor McGonagall placed the hat on her head. The hat's face began to twist and turn as it thought to itself until it announced loudly, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff table cheered loudly as Catherine leapt from the stool and ran to join her housemates. Professor McGonagall continued with her list.

Soon Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor, along with Maddy. Lily was called first and she too was sorted into Gryffindor, then my name rang through the halls.

"Evans, Rachel" Professor Dumbledore stared as I walked up towards the stool and took a seat; the hat was then placed upon my head. It wasn't as heavy as I had imagined, in fact it was actually quiet light.

"Hmmm, well well well, great potential I see in you." The hat began to say, "Incredible magic skills, an undeniable loyalty, bravery and a kind heart, so many quality, but where to put you?"

"If you don't mind, I would like to be with my sister and my friends."

"Well then, you'd better be in…" After what felt like a lifetime the hat announced,

"GRYFFINDOR!" Professor McGonagall smiled at me, and I couldn't stop smiling as I left the stool and ran to join Lily. She eloped me in a huge hug as Sirius and Maddy looked on smiling.

I hardly paid anymore attention to the rest of the students. Along with us, James, Alice, Frank and Remus all were sorted into Gryffindor and soon the eight of us were all together laughing and talking as one big group, until I heard a familiar name being called.  
>"Snape, Severus" I held my breath as my new friend walked to the same stool we had all sat on, and watched as the sorting hat wriggled and squirmed on his head. I could have sworn that the hat and Severus spoke to each other, but they were so quiet I couldn't hear a word, until the hat announced, "SLYTHERIN". At that point I felt my heart drop. I watched as Severus made his way slowly towards the Slytherin table, but not without catching my eye. A look of sorrow and sadness stared back at me through his eyes. I watched as he took a seat next to another of the new Slytherin's, they congratulated him but still I only saw sorrow in his eyes.<p>

Lily's POV

I watched as Rachel continued to stare at the new Slytherin boy, her eyes never leaving his, and the same from him.

"Poor boy" James said.

"Why's that?" I asked

"Well he's in Slytherin isn't he? Never a witch or wizard who wasn't put in that house who didn't turn bad."

"Shut up James. And anyway how do known that Sev gonna be bad?" Rachel snapped at him.

"Well I don't, I'm just saying…"

"Well don't! Just because he's in Slytherin doesn't mean he has to follow his previous housemates and turn bad." All of us stared at Rachel, how did she know this boy, and why was she defending him so passionately? It was Remus who spoke the voice of reason.  
>"Hey Rach, just leave it. You're right he might not be bad; he might be the best Slytherin that this school has ever seen."<p>

"Thanks Remus." Rachel smiled at him.

We carried on our conversation until we were interrupted by Professor Dumbledore.

"Students, may I have your attention? Thank you. Now I would like to start by welcoming our newest students to Hogwarts and hope that your time here with us is enjoyable and educational." A round of clapping rang through the hall, eventually dying down.  
>"I would also like to take this opportunity to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds unless accompanied by myself, any other of the teachers or Hagrid. Quidditch trials are next week anyone who wishes to join should speak to Madam Hooch" Professor Dumbledore gestured to a woman with short white hair and was wearing a stripped scarf under her blue robes.<br>"Any students who have any problems should talk to myself or their head of house. For Ravenclaw this is Professor Flitwick," he gestured to a small man with a moustache and glasses, "for Hufflepuff your head of house is Professor Sprout," again he gestured to a short plump women with very curly hair, "for Slytherin your head of house is Professor Slughorn," he gestured to a man with short white hair and a tweed jacket under his robes, "and finally for Gryffindor, your head of house is Professor McGonagall. Now all that is left for me to say is to enjoy your first term at Hogwarts and let the feasting begin!"

Rachel's POV

Suddenly food appeared all along the table, every kind of food imaginable from lasagne to roast chicken. I suddenly found myself very hungry and pulled my plate high, soon tucking into the most delicious food I had ever tasted. After everyone had eaten and talk to their hearts content, Professor Dumbledore announced that it was time for everyone to turn in for the night.

"Prefects could you please escort your newest house members to your dormitories. I hope you all have a pleasant night and I will see you all tomorrow morning at breakfast."

"Alright Gryffindors my name is Hunter Forest and this is Isabelle Peters and we are your 6th year prefects." A short boy with brown hair and a taller girl with bright green eyes, smiled at the new students over the table. "If you would like to follow us we will take you to our common room, but we will warn you in advance be careful on the stairs they have a habit of changing when you least expect it." Hunter turned and beckoned us to follow; he took the front with Isabelle at the back.

After a quick walk up seven flights of stairs we finally arrived outside the Gryffindor common room, which was guarded by a portrait of a fat lady, which was called (funnily enough) The Fat Lady.

"Password"

"Ok all students remember this password clearly, because you won't be allowed into the common room without it, Dragons head" The portrait swung open to reveal a short tunnel to the common room, Hunter lead us inside.

The inside of the common room was beautiful. Red and gold Gryffindor flags covered the walls; a small fire was burning lighting up the room and giving it a warm feeling.  
>"Ok gather round." Isabelle called out, we did as she said.<br>"This is our common room; students can hang out here as well as do homework or just sit and talk. Those stairs on the left lead up the female rooms and the stairs on the right to the male rooms don't forget that or get them confused, first years you are on the top floor. You will find your stuff has already been moved in, and your names will be on the doors to show who's in which room."

Hunter carried on, "Lights go out at 10, and breakfast is served in the great hall at 8. We advise you get up around 7 and each room has its own bathroom. Ok that's everything, just don't forget the password and have a good night."

Hunter and Isabelle dismissed us and we all decided to head straight to bed. Lily and I walked up the stairs to our floor and began to look for our room. We managed to find it and we were delighted to discover we would be sharing a room with Alice and Maddy.

As I lay awake that night thinking, I realised that I hadn't told Professor Dumbledore about what happened on the train. I made a mental note to myself to talk to him in the morning, or Professor McGonagall. I turned my head to face the wall as to block out Lily's loud snoring, even at Hogwarts she still snored like a lion. I still kept playing the sorting ceremony over in my head, me being sorted into Gryffindor and Severus into Slytherin. I knew that we would probably be in some classes together and made another mental note to try and sit next to him. I felt myself smile at the thought.

Severus's POV

I lay awake in my bed unable to sleep still thinking about the sorting ceremony. Rachel had been the first person with whom I felt I had any sort of connection with. I knew that we would probably be in classes together the next day, so I hoped I could sit next to her. A moan came from the bed next to me; unluckily I had been placed in a room with Lucius Malfoy and two of his buddies. I sighed wishing I could be in Gryffindor house with Rachel. She was the only person who had ever been nice to me, the only person who I had ever felt I could have any kind of friendship with. Sighing again I closed my eyes and tried to get some sleep, maybe tomorrow would seem better.

**Well there we go another chapter done and dusted, sorry about this chapter though, I don't like it very much, but I promise I will do better with the next ^_^**

**Happy reading and please leave a review, they make me very happy ^_^ Beth**


	7. Chapter 6

**Hello, I'm back again with another chapter, please enjoy!**

**Reviewers: (sorry I haven't answered all of the questions already, I thought about PMing the reviewers but then realised that wasn't fair to everyone else, so…)**

Kittyprettypryde: I hadn't actually thought about that until you mentioned it! But I don't think so, I will be having Tonks in my story, (I never did like the age gap between them, so I'm gonna change it, she's still gonna be younger than Remus though)

Pigfarts23: No Severus and Lily haven't met yet, Rachel was the first twin he met and in this chapter he meets Lily for the first time

Revengerufus: Not sure about the Maurders yet, but Severus and Lily will be friends, I'm thinking of having the Maurders as James, Sirius, Remus and Frank instead of Peter (I never liked him) so maybe with Frank and Remus, the Maurders might be nicer to Severus, we'll just have to wait and see

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't Harry Potter, only Rachel, Maddy, Isabelle and Hunter are my own characters** **^_^**

Chapter 6

Rachel awoke to a darkened room. Slow snoring could be heard from the bed next to hers, which Rachel instantly recognised as Lily. With her eyes still growing accustomed to the darkness, Rachel slipped out of her bed, grabbing her hoodie and sketch stuff, she slipped from her room and headed down the stairs towards the common room. Rachel saw the yellow glow of the fire ahead of her and sitting before it was a young girl. Rachel recognised her, it was Isabelle. She was sitting alone in just her pyjamas close to the burning flames. The stair creaked as Rachel moved, Isabelle turned her head and raised her wand. It was then Rachel noticed the tears in Isabelle's eyes.

"Who's there?" Rachel slipped down the remaining stairs, hands in the air in surrender, sketch stuff in her pockets.

"Please don't hex me. I'm Rachel, one of the first years."

"Oh sorry," Isabelle lowered her wand, "Why aren't you asleep?"

"I always wake early; I like to draw the sunrise. Are you ok?" Isabelle turned back to the fire, she didn't reply. Rachel sat next to her on the cold hard floor and took hold of one of Isabelle's hands and held it tight.

They stayed that way, one girl crying for a loss, another just making her feel better with her presence, for ages. Isabelle was the one to break the silence. She whispered in a dream-like state,  
>"I miss her so much."<p>

"Who?" Isabelle suddenly seemed to remember Rachel was sitting next to her; she pulled her hand away and rose to her feet.

"Nobody…Nothing… look it doesn't matter, really" Before Rachel could ask Isabelle anything further, Isabelle had turned and fled to the safety of her room. Rachel stayed where she was, sitting staring at the flames. Something was bothering Isabelle, that much was evident. Rachel knew that only pressing Isabelle would only make her shut out people more, Isabelle needed time. Only when she was ready would she tell people what was wrong. Despite having no connection to Isabelle other than the fact that they were in the same house, Rachel felt a strange need to help Isabelle over come what was troubling her. She decided to speak to Hunter when he awoke to see if he knew anything about what had happened to Isabelle, and to see if he could help.

Hours later Rachel found herself sitting in the great hall with her new friends and sister surrounding her. She had bumped into Hunter earlier that morning, and he had promised to check on Isabelle every now and then to check she was ok. Rachel had also asked if Isabelle liked anything in particular, and was quiet surprised when Hunter told her that Isabelle had a huge love of the weather. Rachel had been planning on trying to draw something that Isabelle could look at to try and make her feel better. She had decided on a picture of rain with a rainbow through the middle to suggest that although things sometimes look bad, there is always something happy to look for.

"Rachel!" Lily's voice called out to her.

"Hun? Oh sorry did you want me?"

"Honestly sis, you and your day dreams." Lily sighed; she knew that when her sister had something on her mind, she could forget about the real world.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something."

"Anything we could help with?" Alice piped into the conversation. Rachel suddenly felt the urge to tell her friends everything, yet she knew that that would be disrespectful towards Isabelle, so she kept quiet.  
>"No, its ok just thinking about school that's all. What have you guys got first?"<p>

They had all been given their timetables that morning before breakfast.  
>"Potions with Professor Slughorn, what about everyone else?" Maddy asked.<p>

"I've got Slughorn too!" Alice squealed. As it turned out they all had potions first. After checking their timetables they discovered that they all had exactly the same classes at exactly the same times. Alice and Maddy were amazed, James and Sirius were high-fiving each other, it was then that Remus spoke up.

"Well why wouldn't we have classes together? Didn't you listen to McGonagall this morning? She said that there was a high possibility that groups of Gryffindors would have lessons together. We've got Potions with a group of Slytherin's this morning and then flying classes with them just after 12."

Rachel's POV

We all suddenly realised that Remus was right, which set us all of in a fit of laughter. I felt hopeful. If we had potions with Slytherin's then maybe Severus would also be in the class. I made a mental note to introduce him to the rest of the group; I had a strange feeling that he would like them and visa versa.

Lily awoke me from my day dream again, and to my surprise I realised that we were heading out to our first lessons. As we all slipped out of the doors bags over our backs, I spotted a familiar face just ahead of us.

"SEVERUS!" Severus turned round to see who had called his name, and then he spotted me, he slowly began to walk over to where we were standing. He smiled when he reached us.

"Hi Rachel."

"Hi, everyone this is Severus Snape, he's the boy I met on the train. Severus this is my twin Lily, Maddy, Alice, Frank, Remus, Sirius and James." Everyone introduced themselves in turn and Sev smiled at said 'Hello' to everyone.

"So your Severus, Rachel hasn't told us anything about you!" Lily smirked. I felt my face getting red,  
>"Lily!" I hissed, I turned to Sev and shot him an apologetic smile. "I know you said that you weren't good at meeting new people…" I started but Severus cut me off.<p>

"That's ok; my mother's always telling me I should meet new people."

"Hey you guys better head off to your lessons or you're going to be late." Hunter appeared behind us.

"Oops, sorry we'll be on our way." We started off towards our class when Hunter called out,  
>"Rachel, could I talk to you for a minute?" I turned to the group.<p>

"I'll catch up." I turned back to Hunter. "What's up?"

"It's about Isabelle. I had a word with her and she's denying that anything is wrong, but I agree with you, something is up. She was all twitchy and nervous when she was talking, a sure sign that something's wrong."

"I guessed as much. Listen I'm no expert on teenage problems, but according to my mother, the best thing to do when someone is upset, is to give them some space and let them come to you with their problems. Don't force them or they will clam up completely." Hunter agreed with me and we agreed to both keep an eye out for Isabelle, but to also keep our distance from her and not force her to talk to us.

I quickly started running towards my lesson, then realised I had no idea where I was going.

"Hunter!" I called back, luckily managing to catch him before he left for his lesson. "Any chance you could help me find my classroom?" Hunter laughed.

"No problem, where do you need to go?"

Hunter managed to get me to my potions class just before the lesson started.

"Sorry, if I get you into trouble for being late."

"Don't worry; I've got Transfiguration with McGonagall this morning. She'll understand."

Smiling Hunter headed off to Transfiguration while I slipped into the class.

An older man in a tweed jacket stood at the front of the classroom, he stared at me as I entered the room.

"Sorry Sir, I needed to talk to Hunter Forest the Gryffindor prefect. And then I got lost."

"Don't worry my dear. We all get lost on our first day."

"I didn't." Lucius muttered loud enough for me to hear, but not Slughorn. I chose to ignore him and took a seat next to Severus and Lily.

Severus's POV

After Rachel had stopped to talk to Hunter, I walked to class with Rachel's friends. They seemed nice enough and Rachel had been right, her sister was friendly. We had only been sitting down for 5 minutes when Rachel entered the room. I had chosen to sit with the Gryffindor guys instead of the Slytherin's which meant I had received a few nasty looks from both Slytherin's and Gryffindor's alike. Lily and I had left a space between the two of us for her to sit down. She apologised for being late, and took her seat. She smiled at the group as she sat down.  
>"Hey Rach, what did Hunter want to talk to you about?"<p>

"Doesn't matter, did I miss anything?"

"Only the Slytherin's and Gryffindor's giving old Severus here a few dirty looks for sitting with us, but we'll keep an eye out for you mate." I felt a warming sensation begin to form in the pit of my stomach; nobody had ever called me 'mate' before. It felt nice. Slughorn began the lesson so we all turned and began to pay attention. Slughorn outlined what we would be doing throughout the year, and then he started us on our first potion, a very simple salve. Everyone began to pair up, Frank and Remus, Alice and Maddy, James and Sirius. Lily grabbed Rachel's arm, I looked around, and nobody else was free. The class had an odd number of pupils. It was then that Rachel called out,  
>"Professor!" Slughorn turned to her.<p>

"Since there are an odd number of students in the class, can me, Lily and Severus work together?" Slughorn glanced around the class and seeing that Rachel was right, he agreed. I felt elated; nobody had ever wanted to work with me before.

The lesson progressed without any technical hitches, well other than Lucius Malfoy. He and his partner decided that they knew how to make the potion without looking at the textbooks. This had proved disastrous. His potion had blown up right in his face. That had caused the whole class to erupt into a burst of laughter. Even Slughorn couldn't contain his laughter when Lucius managed to clean his face, only to discover that he had managed to give himself a black eye. By the time Lucius had left to go visit Madam Pomfrey, Slughorn was going round checking the potions. Everyone had made a potion of some sort. Some were brown, others were purple, somehow Alice and Maddy had managed to turn theirs bright green. By the time Slughorn got to us, we could tell that he knew that this term was going to be hard work. He stared into our caldron. Our potion was a light blue colour like the textbook said the salve should be, Slughorn seemed delighted.

"Well done, Mr Snape and Miss Evans'es! This is exactly the quality potion you should all be aiming to create. Since you are first years and this is your first lesson, I am very surprised that you managed to get it right first time, 10 points each." Rachel, Lily and I smiled at each other.  
>"Right now class, for homework I would like you to write up how you made the potion, and what happened to your potion. What colour it ended up, what problems you faced etc, I would like that on my desk by next lesson on Wednesday. That's it clean up and then you can go."<p>

Rachel's POV

I couldn't stop smiling as we left potions. Professor Slughorn said that me, Lily and Severus had a gift when it came to making potions. Lily admitted to Slughorn that she had struggled and me and Sev were able to point her in the right direction, this seemed to make him more pleased.

"Well Miss Lily, a true potions master isn't afraid to ask for help, and Miss Rachel and Mr Severus well done for having the confidence to help Miss Lily. I can expect great things from you three, keep up the good work."

After Potions we headed outside for our first flying lesson. I could sense that Severus that felt nervous.

"Hey, are you ok?"  
>"Fine, it's just that… well I'm sure I'm gonna be rubbish on a broomstick."<p>

"Hey don't talk like that. I'm sure you'll be great."

Unfortunately Severus was right; his first flying lesson was a disaster. James, Sirius, Remus, Frank and I all seemed to get the hang of flying quiet quickly. Madam Hooch even recommended that we try out for the Quidditch team. Severus meanwhile… well poor Madam Hooch had her work cut out with Sev. He fell of his broom 3 times and it smacked him in the face twice. Luckily Lucius Malfoy was still in the hospital wing so he couldn't witness Sev's trouble with his broomstick. After the lesson I hung back to talk to Madam Hooch.

"Professor, could I talk to you?"

"Of course, what can I do to help, Miss Evans?"

"Well it's about Severus. I was wondering if maybe I could help him learn to fly better. I know I'm not perfect but maybe I could help him learn to stay on his broom so you can help the others. Plus Severus was really worried that he would be rubbish at flying, maybe I could help his confidence a bit."

"Well Miss Evans nobody has ever asked me if they could help another student before. Maybe you helping Mr Snape is a good idea. See if you can get his confidence up a bit, then maybe we can talk about you possibly helping his flying methods."

"Thanks professor, I will."

I walked back to the castle a smile still plastered on my face. Lily saw me approaching.

"Hey, what took you so long?"  
>"Sorry, I wanted to talk to Professor Hooch about maybe helping Sev with his flying."<p>

"What did she say?"  
>"That if I could get his confidence up a bit, then maybe I could help teach him how to fly. Professor Hooch thinks that I'm a natural."<p>

"Well I think that's a great idea, maybe Severus will respond better to you than a teacher."

"True." I suddenly spotted Professor Dumbledore out of the corner of my eye. "Sorry Lil, I really need to speak to Professor Dumbledore, see you in the common room ok?" Before I could give Lily a chance to answer I had started running towards Professor Dumbledore. I needed to talk to him about what happened on the train before anyone else did, especially before Lucius Malfoy did.

"Professor, can I talk to you?"

"Of course Miss Rachel, what seems to be troubling you?"  
>"Well Professor did you hear about what happened on the train yesterday?"<br>"No I can't say I have. Maybe you could enlighten me?"

"Could we maybe talk in your office, I don't want anyone to hear."

"Of course follow me." Albus lead the way to a giant statue of a griffin which blocked off another spiral staircase. "Sherbet Lemons" Suddenly the griffin moved its wing and the staircase opened up, Albus carried on walking and I followed.

After climbing up hundreds of stairs, we finally made it to Professor Dumbledore's office. Inside was the biggest office I had ever seen. The walls were covered with portraits of previous headmasters, a giant desk stood in the middle of the room and the most beautiful bird stood next to it.  
>"Oh wow, Professor what is that?"<p>

"That my dear is Fawkes, a phoenix." Fawkes had the brightest feathers I had ever seen on any bird, they shone with the most brilliant colours of red, orange and yellow like the flames of a fire.

"He's beautiful."  
>"He is indeed, now what was it you wanted to tell me?"<p>

I launched into the whole story, about the train journey, the bright white light, and what happened when I was younger.  
>"… and it only seems to happen when I get really mad. Professor is there something wrong with me."<p>

"No of course not my dear. You're perfectly healthy although your magic does seem to be developing at quiet a fast rate. Take this book," Albus passed me a book with a blood red cover, it was called 'Myths and Legends through time'.

"Read this especially chapters 14 to 23, if that is the same thing that happens to you when you get mad come back and I think I know how to deal with it."

"Oh thank you Professor, I thought something was wrong with me."

"Nothing to thank me about my dear, go on I bet your sister and your friends are waiting for you, and aren't you going to visit Buckbeak this afternoon?"  
>"Oh goodness, yes. Thank you for reminding me Professor." With a smile from his face, he gestured for me to leave the room, and I did feeling happier than I had done in while.<p>

Albus's POV

After a quick fire call, Professor McGonagall arrived in my office and sat down.

"Well, what can I do for you Albus?"

"It's about Miss Rachel Evans, she came to see me just now regarding a matter which I think concerns both us and a very old prophecy."  
>"Which one there are so many?"<p>

"Indeed, but I speak off the prophecy written in the book 'Myths and Legends through time'." Minerva face fell, her complexion change to that of a deathly white.

"Are you sure Albus?"

"Positive, I've told her to read the book and then tell me if that is what happens to her."

"But if it does, if she is…"

"I know Minerva, if she is the witch the prophecy speaks of, then she will be in grave danger, if Tom found out about her."

"Albus, she's just a child. She shouldn't have to deal with this."

"I know, but if it is true, if she is the witch, she will require our help to train herself to use her magic."

"Well I will help no matter what. Rachel is a kind and caring young girl, I don't want to put her through anything unnecessary Albus."

Indeed, if she is the witch then I propose that you train her. You have the skills and the knowledge, plus she trusts you. She will most probably respond better to you than to me."  
>"I would be more than willing to train her, should she need it."<br>"Minerva if she is the witch from that prophecy, she is going to need all the help we can give her."

**Sorry to end it there, but if I don't I will go on writing forever. How does everyone like the story about Rachel's powers so far, and I thought that by adding the sub-plot about Isabelle it would be nice to get to know the other characters, let me know if you think it works or not, and if you have any questions about Isabelle or any of my other characters. Please read and review, your comments make me very happy indeed, and I'll will be posting my next chapter very soon ^_^**

**Beth**


	8. Chapter 7

**Hi all, here's my next chapter enjoy ^_^**

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't Harry Potter, only Rachel, Maddy, Isabelle and Hunter are my own characters** **^_^**

Chapter 7

Clutching the book tightly, Rachel started walking towards the courtyard where she had last seen her sister. Lily was sitting in the exact same spot with the others.  
>"Hey Rachel!" Maddy waved, Rachel waved back and joined them.<p>

"Hi, sorry about dashing off Lily."

"Don't worry about it; did you talk to Professor Dumbledore?"

"Yes, he gave me this to read." Rachel handed the book over to Lily who glanced at the cover.

"'Myths and Legends through time', sounds interesting." Remus read the title over Lily's shoulder, he agreed with her.

"That's what I thought. Has anyone seen Sev?"

"He went back to the common room, said something about needing something from his room."  
>"Oh, well I'm off to see Hagrid, does anyone want to join me?"<p>

"Sure, we'll all come." Maddy answered for everyone.

"Great, I just need to head back to our room to get my art stuff, and drop my books off."

Rachel's POV

We all trooped back to the Gryffindor common room to drop off our things.  
>"Dragons Head." James was the one to speak the password this time. He moved aside and bowed his head to Lily.<br>"After you ladies." We could all see the twinkle in his eyes directed straight at Lily. She rolled her eyes and slipped into the common room, followed by a laughing Maddy, Alice and me. The boys sauntered to the right and us to the left. A few other students were sitting in the common room when we entered, as well as Isabelle. She was sitting quietly in a corner all alone. I gestured for Lily and the others to head upstairs and Alice took my bag for me.  
>"My art stuff should be on top of the desk, would you mind getting it for me, I need to check something?"<p>

"Sure, be back in a minute." Alice, Maddy and Lily left the room and I slipped over towards Isabelle.

"Hi."  
>"Hi, Rachel isn't it."<br>"Yeah, you feeling better."

"Yes much thanks, just one of those days."  
>"I know what you mean, look I know this probably might seem weird, especially since you're a perfect, but if you want to talk about anything, I've been told I'm a good listener and I give good advice."<br>Isabelle chuckled, "Thanks, that's really kind of you."

"Don't worry about it." Isabelle turned back to her essay, and I slipped quietly out of her light.

"Rachel, coming?"  
>"Sure" The boys loudly thumped down the stairs.<p>

"Boys! Keep the noise down." Isabelle said without looking up from her essay.

"Sorry" Frank apologised.

It took us all of 10 minutes to reach Hagrid's hut on the other side of the castle. On the way out of the common room, we bumped into Severus heading for the courtyard, he tagged along with us. Hagrid's hut was exactly what I expected. It just seemed to fit the personality that Hagrid gave off, a little untidy around the edges, but friendly, kind and safe at the same time. I knocked on the door, a loud woof was heard and Hagrid answered. Fluffy came bounding out the door, heading straight for Sirius knocking him flat on the floor, this set us off laughing. Hagrid pulled the dog off Sirius.

"Sorry 'bout that, he likes meetin' new people." Fluffy managed to get out of Hagrid's grasp and came over to me. He shot straight up putting his paws on my stomach, and barking with a furious content.

"Hey Fluffy, what's with all the barking?" I rubbed his heads and he was soon relaxing in my hands.

"Well you certainly have struck up a friendship with him." The others came over and soon were playing fetch with a giant stick they found. Fluffy had managed to get himself a group of friends.

"Hagrid, while their playing with Fluffy, could I meet Buckbeak?"  
>"Certainly, follow me."<p>

Hagrid lead me a little way from the hut to an open space just before the Forbidden Forest. It was here that I saw the most beautiful creature that I had ever met. The creature stood at least 6 foot high on all fours, his huge wings pulled into his sides, his beak razor sharp, and his eyes all the while staring at me.

"He's beautiful, what is he?"  
>"Buckbeak here is a hippogriff." Hagrid continued to explain to me a little about Buckbeak. I learnt that Hagrid had raise him after he found him as a baby, he was one of Hagrid's pets but he certainly wasn't caged up, he had the free run of the whole of the Forbidden Forest and most of the sky.<p>

"Why don't you try stroking him? You just need to approach him slowly so he doesn't get spooked."

"Could I?"

"Sure." I slowly edged towards Buckbeak keeping my eyes on his constantly. He didn't move. He turned his head as I approached to get a better view.

"Now bow, to show he's in control." I bowed to the hippogriff. To my surprise and delight Buckbeak bowed back.

"Well done, he likes you." Hagrid seemed amazed, so was I. I seemed to have general like with Hagrid's pets.

"Would it be ok if I sat and drew him for a while? Would he be able to stay still for long enough?"  
>"Well I don't see why not. Buckbeak! This young lady would like to draw a picture of you; do you think you could stay still for a bit?" Buckbeak turned his head to look at me.<br>"Please Buckbeak, I promise I won't be too long." Buckbeak stared into my eyes, and I stared back at his. Suddenly he slipped down onto the floor and settled into a comfortable sitting position before turning his head back to me as if to say, 'Well come on then!' I quickly turned to a new page in my sketch book and got out one of my pencils.

I sat with Buckbeak for about an hour drawing, every so often I would turn my head to look into his eyes and would always catch Buckbeak staring back. His eyes never seemed to leave me. To some people this would seem a little unnerving, to me however it felt quiet nice, like there was someone watching over me. Once I had finished I slowly made my way over to Buckbeak again, he was still sitting on the ground looking at every move I made. I slowly edged closer and closer until I lifted out my hand, and Buckbeak began to nuzzle me. I laughed.

"Well, what do you think?" I showed the drawing to the hippogriff, he looked at it before turning back to me. Again I caught myself looking into his eyes; they seemed to be wider than before, more friendly and protective. Suddenly Buckbeak darted up back onto all fours. I backed away quickly but Buckbeak was quicker. He moved round to shield me from the woods. He lowered his back as if telling me to get on. I stared, he began to nudge me, as if he wasn't asking, but telling me to get on. I slowly moved my legs until I saddled the giant creature. Buckbeak rose up again to his full height. I could see further into the woods now. The air suddenly felt cold and murkier as if all the goodness had been pulled out of the world. Buckbeak had seemed to sense the atmosphere too. He turned and quickly began to run back towards Hagrid's hut.

Lily's POV

We had been playing fetch with Fluffy for about 10 minutes before Alice noticed that Rachel had disappeared.

"Hey, where did Rachel slip away to?" I turned to the last place I had seen my sister. Alice was right, she was gone. Just then Hagrid came over the field towards us.

"Hagrid, Rachel's gone!"

"Calm down Miss Lily, she's with Buckbeak."  
>"Who's Buckbeak?" Maddy asked.<p>

"Buckbeak is a hippogriff who has lived with me practically all his life."

"Will she be ok?"

"With Buckbeak, she will be more than ok. He will protect her to the death if he needs to, both he and Fluffy seem to have taken a liking to her; never known those two to like anyone so quickly."

"Rachel's always had a connection with animals. They would always come up to her in the streets and ask for a stroke. It's like a little gift she has."

With the knowledge that Rachel would be ok with Buckbeak, we continued our game with Fluffy, before long Hagrid joined in and we were playing with the dog. About an hour had gone by when I realised that I should go and check Rachel was ok. When she was drawing she could often lose track of time. I passed the stick onto Frank and turned to ask Hagrid if he could take me to Rachel and Buckbeak, when there was a loud noise of hooves approaching us. We all stopped and stared as a giant winged horse bounded over the field, with Rachel on it's back. Hagrid stepped in front of the creature to try and calm it down.

"Hey Buckbeak calm down!" Hagrid began to walk towards the animal, it was then that Rachel's voice became heard.

"Buckbeak its ok, we're safe now. You protected us." The animal seemed to respond to the calming tones of Rachel's voice. He stopped and stood still before lowing himself to the ground allowing Rachel to get off. She slipped over the side and round towards the head. She reached out a hand and began to pat the animal on its forehead.

"Good boy, thank you." Hagrid appeared behind her with a giant slab of meat, he passed a small bit to Rachel, who held it out for Buckbeak. He accepted the food gratefully and allowed Rachel to feed him from her hand.

Rachel moved away from Buckbeak towards us, I ran to her and pulled her into a hug.

"What happened? Are you ok?" The questions seemed to fall out of my mouth, before I had a chance to stop them.

"Lils I'm fine. Buckbeak thought he heard a noise in the Forbidden Forest. He decided that we needed to leave. He saved me from any danger."

"What danger would that have been?"  
>"I don't know, you'd have to ask Buckbeak, I think he heard something in the Forbidden Forest. I didn't hear anything, but when Buckbeak made me get on his back the air seemed to get colder. Does that make any sense Hagrid?"<br>"More than you think, I think you should all go back to the castle, it's nearly time for dinner now anyway."

"Good grief so it is," James had pulled out his watch, "It's almost 20 past 5. Dinner's served at 6

"Well we'll head back, thanks Hagrid."

"Yeah thanks." The others thanked Hagrid for letting them stay; Rachel gave Fluffy a quick stroke and Buckbeak before turning back to us, and heading back to the castle.

Rachel's POV

We all walked back to the Gryffindor common room, Frank giving the password. I turned to say 'bye' to Sev to see him walking away from us.  
>"You guys go it, I'm gonna walk with Sev to the Slytherin common room. Hey Sev wait up!" I hurried back down the stairs and caught up with Severus at the bottom.<p>

"You don't have to you know. I'll be fine."

"I guessed that, but what sort of a friend would I be if I didn't let you go back without trying to walk with you?"

"I though gentlemen walked ladies to their rooms?" I chuckled.

"Well since we're already heading your way it seems stupid for me to turn round."

Severus laughed and we continued towards the Slytherin common room.

"Hey, I've been meaning to ask you, where about's do you live?"

"Cokeworth, near Spinner's end, you heard of it?"

"Heard of it, I live in Spinner's end, the last house on the row."

"No way, maybe we've seen each other before."

"I don't think so, I don't get out much."  
>"Well now I know you live close to me, maybe you could come over sometimes, are you going home for christmas?"<p>

"No staying here, you?"  
>"Yeah I'm going home, your parents going away or something?"<br>"Or something." I chuckled.

"Maybe I could write to you over christmas?"

"Yeah that's sounds nice." I made my mind up then and there to send Severus a christmas card over the holidays, and I had in mind the perfect present for him. I made another note to send a message to mum asking if she could get me a DVD of Labyrinth for Severus's present. I chuckled to myself as we headed to the dungeons. This was where Severus stopped.

"I don't think you should come in any further." I gave him a puzzled expression.

"Slughorn would be ok with you come down, but the other Slytherin's…" Severus trailed off, but I knew where he was going.

"It's ok. I don't really want to pump into Lucius Malfoy anyway. So I guess I'll see you at dinner?"

"Sure, see you then." Severus gave me a wide smile as he headed towards the dungeons. I turned and began my walk back the common room. Surprisingly I managed to make it without getting lost; although the whole trip back I couldn't get the image of certain young boy smiling at me out of my head.

Dinner was served at 6 on the dot, and it was just as splendid as the night before. I pumped into Severus as I entered the hall, and asked him if he wanted me to help him with his flying lessons. He agreed and we decided to work out a schedule the next day. He gave me another of his smiles which I couldn't get of my head again.

"Rachel!"

"Hun what?"

"God do you ever pay attention?"

"Sorry, just thinking about something."

"Don't you mean someone?" James said slyly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well you and Severus, you always seem to be smiling at each other. Haven't you noticed it guys?"  
>"You know James I think I have. Something you wanna tell us Evans?"<p>

"Shut up! Severus and I are just friends." I turned pretending to engrossed in my dinner, but my mind was racing.

'What was that about Rach?' Lily asked me telepathically.

'Doesn't matter, James just being James, forget it.'

Luckily for me, Lily dropped it and so did James. After dinner Hunter and Isabelle took us back to the common room. Isabelle was looking better. I gestured to Hunter and he seemed to notice the change too. After chatting in the common room for while, I slipped off to bed. Unable to sleep for a bit, I began working on Isabelle's picture, finishing the basic outlines that night. All I needed to do was to add the colour to the rainbow and the texture to the rain drops. Putting the sketch pad to one side, I pulled the book Professor Dumbledore had given me out of my bag and settled down to read.

Severus's POV

Sitting in bed that night I could get the image of Rachel out of my head. She had offered to help tutor me in flying that night and I couldn't wait to take her up on her offer. She mentioned something about Madam Hooch saying that I needed more confidence, so she wanted to help me get more confidence on a broom. Personally I couldn't wait to have a private lesson with Rachel. As much as I enjoyed being with the others and having people I could call my friends, I wanted nothing more than to spend some time alone with the Gryffindor girl. The walk back to the dungeons this afternoon had been nice, just being able to ask Rachel a few questions about herself and to learn about her. I started to think about maybe getting her a card for christmas. I couldn't bear to tell the real reason why I wasn't going home for christmas. I couldn't bear to tell her that mum would be working and dad would be drinking himself into oblivion, so staying at Hogwarts wasn't only my only option, but also the safest option. If I was at home there was every chance that dad would beat me again, and mum too. That was why I so excited about coming to Hogwarts. If I learnt to be a proper wizard then I could fight him off and make him leave me and mum alone for good. The only problem was how long was it going to take before I was strong enough to fight him off? I turned over in bed, the image of her still fresh in my head, before I drifted off into sleep, with dreams of a certain witch filling my sub-conscious mind.

**Well another chapter finished. Don't forget to read and review, and also to take part in my poll currently running. I have also added a new story to my list, 'A Love that would last Forever'. It's a Jibbs story from NCIS, please would anyone be kind enough to have a read and review, it would mean a lot to me. **

**Also I will be away for a bit next week, and the weekend which follows so my next chapter maybe a little late, but I promise it will be up soon. I play to try and update both stories on the same day. **


	9. Chapter 8

**Hi everyone, this chapter is going to be explaining the prophecy which Professor Dumbledore told Rachel to read. ****The Prophecy is entirely made up straight of the top of my head! **

XxMixedXxLoverXx – Thanks your review really made me smile. As for werewolf Remus, I haven't yet decided whether Rachel will be one of the marauders to stay with him or not, but I do think that she might have a connection of some sort with him, stay reading to find out.

Electrogirl88 – Thanks your review made me smile to, I love the idea of Severus actually being able to be with somebody, after what happened with Lily in the actual books, but keep reading as with the Prophecy being told now, things between Rachel and Severus will start to show but they won't be getting together for a bit, sorry :(

DGfleetfox – Sorry if I haven't mentioned it yet, (thought I had) but I'm not setting the story when the marauders would have actually gone to Hogwarts as I know nothing about that time period, really sorry if this confuses anyone else. But thanks for the review anyway :)

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't Harry Potter, only Rachel, Maddy, Isabelle and Hunter are my own characters** **^_^**

Chapter 8

Rachel sat under her covers, the light from the moon shinning through the window; however it was no where near enough for Rachel to be able to see the book. Remembering a spell she had read in one of her school books, Rachel picked up her wand and muttered "Lumos". The tip of Rachel's wand illuminated, she smiled to herself and turned to the chapter Professor Dumbledore had recommended. Glancing at the title Rachel began to read.

_The Last Witch of Meridian_

_In the early days of magic Witches and Wizards were persecuted for their abilities. Those who were lucky enough to escape the persecution had no where to go. Witches and Wizards were forced into hiding their powers to be able to survive. However help was just around the corner. A village specifically for magical folk rose up from the hope of all. This village became a haven for Witches and Wizards, and became known as Meridian. _

_Hundreds of magical folk left their lives for the safety that Meridian offered, and none were turned away. The people of Meridian lived in peace and harmony for years. The village was made up of hundreds of people all with different abilities. The Elders of the village were considered to be the most knowledgeable; they trained teachers who in turn taught the younger generations how to use their powers. The Hunters who could easily catch food for the villagers were also considered to be important to the magical folk, as were the Healers who could easily cure practically every aliment. However the most respected of all the villagers were the Seers. The visions that they saw would predict the future for the village with the visions being both good and bad. _

_One day during a meeting of the Elder's, a seer by the name of Postremo burst into the meeting. He claimed to have seen a future of wars and battles between the magical and non-magical. He claimed the magical folk were lead by a young girl, with hair as black as the night and eyes as blue as the sky. She showed extreme magical abilities greater than anything anyone had ever seen. The most powerful of her powers was said to be a white light which she could make appear at will from her mind. This light was said to blind her enemies and cause them to fall feet away from her. The village people were worried about such a girl and the powers she could possess; they vowed never to allow such a girl into the community for their own safety. _

_Time passed and eventually the prophecy became a legend of the past. _

_One day a young girl by the name of Potens entered the village. Her parents had sent her to Meridian after she started showing signs of magic. She was only 11 years of age. Potens was adopted into a magical family where she stayed, learning about magic until she turned 15. _

_Just after her 15th birthday an attack was lead on the village of Meridian, by the non-magical. The villagers were unprepared for such an attack and as a consequence many people were injured and/or killed, including Potens' adopted family. She vowed revenge on the people who had taken away the family she loved with all her heart. _

_One afternoon during a meeting of the villagers Potens was practising her magical abilities when she managed to produce a small white light from her mind. The vision Postremo had spoken of was beginning to look like a reality. The villagers however hoped it was a one-off, but as the months dragged on Potens' powers grew and became stronger until she was stronger than all of the other villagers. Fear spread through the village like wild fire, the legend was coming true. As much as the villagers loved Potens they all remembered the promise they had made in the beginning, and knew what they had to do. With sadness in their heavy hearts they banished Potens from the village and told her never to return. _

_Far from being upset at the people she had come to love like an extended family, Potens understood the reasons behind their actions. She left the village with an open heart and went to live in the nearby forest. From there she was able to protect the community she had called her home. Potens had heard about the legend and so she began to train herself to use her powers to their fullest. _

_Many months passed since her banishment and Potens powers continued to get stronger, as did the love she held for her fellow witches and wizards of Meridian. Everyday she would go to the edge of the forest and gaze out upon the village, occasionally she would catch the eye of a villager and sadness would fill both their hearts. Just before Potens 17th birthday an army lead an attack on Meridian, destroying it completely. Potens sensed the trouble from her home in the forest and rushed to aid her fellow witches and wizards. She was able to hold off the advancing army with her magic for long enough that the villagers were able to escape into the forest that Potens called home with nothing but the clothes on their backs. _

_With Potens' help the villagers were able to build a second village of Meridian in the tree-tops high above the ground. The villagers began to prepare for another fight. With Potens leading the villagers they all learnt special skills which each witch or wizards could develop. Armies advanced into the forest but all left without a single trace of blood of their swords. One solider claimed to have seen a white light when they entered the forest, but could remember nothing else, this was continuous for the whole army._

_Month after month passed and no word came from the villagers of Meridian, until one day a letter written on a scrap of parchment reached the hands of the army General. It was written by Potens requesting a meeting to discuss the future of the magical and non magical folk. She requested that the General and one solider arrive at the edge of the forest, and Potens would do the same. Any sign of fighting or danger and the solider for each side would defend their leader to the death. The General agreed to the terms and the reply reached back to Potens. _

_The day of the meeting dawned over the village. Potens and her solider Fortis left for the edge of the forest where the army General was waiting for her. Potens proposed that the magical and non-magical folk learn to live in peace together, with either side helping the other. The General agreed to the terms but on one condition, the magical folk must surrender to the power of the army and be taken to separate villages and never speak of their powers to anyone. Potens was livid; the General was continuing the discrimination of the magical folk just as he had done before. Potens with drew her offer and the General promised to meet her on the battle field for her last fight. Potens and Fortis returned to Meridian and told the folk to prepare for battle, as did the General. _

_The battle for Meridian was fierce. Both sides rushed towards each other weapons held high. Spell after spell after spell hit the advancing army, and sword after sword after sword came crashing down the magical folk. In the thick of the battle was Potens fighting for her people. The battle lasted for many days and many nights until each side was filled with dead bodies and tired warriors. Potens called out to the General to stop the fighting, and save the lives of the people they had left. She walked out of the magical army to call a peace with the General. But Potens' sacrifice meant nothing to him. The non-magical army saw just how much Potens and the others wanted peace; they all laid down their swords and held their hands in a truce. _

_The magical and non-magical folk were finally at peace with one another. But the General still bayed for blood. Grasping his sword in one hand he advanced on Potens. One of the army soldiers spotted him and cried to Potens, "Look out!" Potens turned but it was too late. The General thrust the sword into her heart. Fortis was immediately by Potens side and the General was taken away by his army. _

_Fortis gathered Potens in his arms and rushed her to the healers. Using every spell and potion they could think of they tried to save Potens, but nothing could be done. Holding her close Fortis wept a river of tears, all the while villagers around him cried for the loss of their fearless leader. _

_Using her last dying breaths Potens called out her people, "My friends, my family you must not cry. Magical and Non-magical folk will now live together in peace and harmony. But every battle must have its sacrifices, and I am one. One day, I promise you my people one day, the powers I possess will return to the magical world in the form of a young Witch, and she will help defeat the evil in this world once and for all. One day a witch with a pure heart will lead the magical world to its final peace, I promise you that." With that Potens became still, her body began to grow cold, and her soul left the world. _

_Potens' body was burnt at a ceremonial funeral, which was attended by Witches and Wizards of Meridian and the non-magical folk, who realised now just how much Potens gave up for her people. Her powers as well as her body left the world, only to return when the time was right. _

_Years and years after Potens death, the magical world is still waiting for the day that Potens' magic will return to us, and to help protect the magical and non-magical folk alike. _

Rachel's eyes were filled with tears. Potens had given up her life for the magical world she belonged to, and now it was Rachel's turn to fight for the people like her.

The next day, still in her pyjamas, Rachel hurried to Professor Dumbledore's office. After giving the password she remembered from the day before, the staircase slid away for her to use. She hurried up the old stairs to the old man's office.

"Come in my dear." Rachel pushed open the huge solid door and slipped inside. Professor Dumbledore wasn't alone; he was sitting with Professor McGonagall having a cup of tea.

"I'm sorry Professor, I can come back if you want?"  
>"Don't worry my dear, you can talk about yesterday in front of Professor McGonagall."<br>"Ok then. I read the book last night, it made me cry."  
>"The same happened to me when I read it." Professor McGonagall's voice made Rachel feel completely at ease.<br>"I read the bit afterwards as well, where it talked about the powers she possessed. I can do most of them, but some of them I've never heard of so I don't know if I can do them or not."

Professor Dumbledore looked at Professor McGonagall. He didn't need to say anything; she knew what he wanted to say.

"Rachel, do you understand what this means?"  
>"I'm going to have to fight in a war, a war which I might die in." Rachel looked on the verge of tears. She was only 11, Professor McGonagall was out of her seat and by Rachel's side in a flash; she pulled the girl into a hug. Rachel didn't fight her off. She just sobbed quietly into Professor McGonagall's shoulder.<p>

"Albus, she's just a child, there has to be another way." Professor McGonagall looked at Professor Dumbledore with a desperate expression on her face. He simply shock his head.

"If there was one, I would be all for it. I'm sorry Rachel, there is no other way." By now Professor McGonagall was quietly crying, she held Rachel close. It was obvious the girl had been up all night thinking about the prophecy; she slowly slipped to sleep in Professor McGonagall's arms.

Professor McGonagall looked back at Professor Dumbledore. He gestured for her to take Rachel back to her room.

"Are you still ok to teach her about the powers and how to control them?" Professor McGonagall nodded.  
>"She's a child; I will do everything and anything to help her."<p>

She slowly carried a sleeping Rachel back to her room. The position of the sun told her that it was early morning, no later than 6 o'clock. By the time Minerva reached the Gryffindor common room Lily had awoke. As Minerva slipped into the room Lily's eyes widened at her sleeping sister.  
>"Shhh. Let her sleep, she didn't sleep very well last night." As much as Professor McGonagall wanted to tell Lily everything so she could try and comfort Rachel when she awoke, she knew she couldn't. It was Rachel's secret to tell, not hers.<p>

"Will you please wake Miss Francis and Miss Cross and tell them not wake Rachel. She needs to sleep."  
>"What about our lessons, today's only the second day of school."<p>

"Don't worry about that, I will see to Miss Rachel's lessons." Lily quickly woke Alice and Maddy and the three girls silently trooped from the room. Professor McGonagall moved a strand of hair from Rachel's face, causing her moan and wake up.

"Mum?" Rachel asked slightly sleepy.

"It's Professor McGonagall my dear. If you want to stay in bed today I'm sure Professor Dumbledore and I can sort something out for you."

Rachel was now awake and looking up at Professor McGonagall.

"I'm fine thank you Professor, but I want to get up, I want to go to lessons."

"Alright, it's your choice. But I will ask Madam Pomfrey to give you a little Pick-me-up potion, I think you need it."

"Thank you Professor. What's going to happen now?"

"I will be giving you private lessons to help you control your powers. But first I need to see exactly what you can do." Rachel nodded.

"What do I need to do?"

"Well to start with I don't want you to think about the Prophecy at all today, or tomorrow, in fact don't think about it at all this first week. Just settle in to Hogwarts, find your lesson, do your homework, make some friends, and we can see about the Prophecy later. Ok?" Rachel nodded at Professor McGonagall, the old woman reminded Rachel of her mother.

"I've sent your roommates into the common room; I can get them back if you want?" Rachel nodded again.

"Should I tell Lily?"

"Again that's your choice my dear." Rachel decided against it, she didn't want Lily to worry about her; however there was one person she wanted to tell.

"Professor, could I tell Severus Snape? He's my other best friend besides Lily." Professor McGonagall was surprised that Rachel wanted to tell a boy that she'd only known for 2 days this huge secret.

"Why do you want to tell him?"  
>"I don't know, I just do. He's not like Lily, I think he'd worry, but I also think that maybe he can help me understand it all." Professor McGonagall smiled.<p>

"If you want to, yes. In fact maybe telling someone other than your sister might help 'relieve the burden', I think that's the muggle phrase." Rachel chuckled, and Professor McGonagall slipped out of the room, sending Lily, Maddy and Alice back in after her.

"Rachel want happened?" All 3 asked at once.

"Professor McGonagall said that you would be spending today in bed."

"I know, but I don't wanna miss school." Rachel sat up on the bed, Maddy and Alice slipped over to their beds to get changed, Lily stayed where she was.

"Rach what's going on? Is something wrong? Are you ill?"

"No, I promise everything's fine, I swear." Rachel hated lying to her sister, but she hoped that this way, not only would Lily not worry, but she could protect her older sister. Lily didn't look convinced, but at that point Madam Pomfrey arrived with the potion for Rachel and Lily had to leave it.

Professor McGonagall slowly walked to her quarters. She was still going over the morning's events in her mind. The idea of Rachel wanting to tell Severus everything still puzzled her, however one thing she was sure of. Rachel liked the boy. When Rachel spoke about him, Professor McGonagall could see her eyes sparkle at the thought. She smiled, wondering just how long it would take for the two of them to admit they liked each other.

**There we go another chapter for you all. Please leave a review it makes me think that someone is actually reading this stuff, and please leave any questions you may have and I will try and answer them in my next chapter. Also just a quick random fact that I learnt today, Daniel Radcliff's new film 'The Woman in Black' is a re-make, they made a TV movie version of the book in 1989, what I find weird is that both Daniel and Adrian Rawlins (he played James Potter in the films) play the same character! :D**

**Happy reading!**

**Beth ^_^**

**Translations  
><strong>**Postremo – Latin for future  
><strong>**Potens – Latin for powerful  
><strong>**Fortis – Latin for Brave**


	10. Chapter 9

**Hi everyone, new chapter for you sorry it's so late :( **

Kittyprettypryde: I guess that maybe falling in love that young can often not be realistic, but I can safely say that Rachel and Severus aren't going to be getting together for a while

electrogirl88: Thank you, 'The Last Witch of Meridian' was fun to write ^_^

XxMixedXxLoverXx: Thank you, sorry it has been so long, school work and loads of other stuff got in the way.

**Disclaimer: The usual, I don't Harry Potter, only Rachel, Maddy, Isabelle and Hunter are my own characters** **^_^**

Chapter 9

Rachel's POV

The first week at Hogwarts was the best. Lessons were fun and all the teachers were really kind and helpful. Of course that didn't stop Lily worrying about me. Since that morning where Professor McGonagall bought me back from Dumbledore's office she had become more protective than usual. I wasn't left on my own for a minute in school, this I found to be rather annoying, but I knew that they had my best interests at heart. As it turned out I didn't tell Severus about the prophecy, I didn't tell anyone, I just forgot about it for that first week like Professor McGonagall told me to. As the time passed on I found myself enjoying Hogwarts more and more.

It was on Saturday afternoon when the trouble started again. We were all sitting out by the Black Lake, me, Lily, Alice, Maddy, Frank, Remus, James, Sirius and Severus. We had all helped each other finish our homework and now we were just relaxing.

"So how's everyone's first week been?" Frank asked. We all agreed that it had been fun and that we were all enjoying Hogwarts.  
>"Can't complain," James said; he sat on the ground closest to Lily, who was trying desperately to get away from him. "What about you Lily?"<p>

"Fine thank you." We all laughed, it was obvious that Lily was taking to him through gritted teeth and really wanted to punch him.

"Well well well if it isn't the little mudblood and her stupid friends, I believe that you owe me." Lucius Malfoy was standing glaring at me with daggers for eyes. I knew that if I got angry again then all hell would break loose, so I took a deep breath and continued my conversation with the others.

"So is anyone going to watch the Quidditch match tomorrow?"

"Hey I'm talking to you!"  
>"Well I'm ignoring you." If looks could kill Lucius would have killed me then and there. Instead he walked towards me, still glaring, until he stood right in front of me. It was at this point that I stood up, the others followed.<p>

"Aww isn't that cute, you've got all your little friends to protect you, your nothing but a stupid baby." This set his friends off giggling like little girls.

"Why don't you just grow up Malfoy? I don't owe you anything, actually you probably owe Maddy for grabbing Lily on the train otherwise you would probably have had to write home and tell your parents why you were in the hospital wing on the first day of term." Maddy and Lily high fived each other. It was true Lily could pack a very hard punch, (this I had discovered the hard way when we were little).

"Really because I'm sure that you owe me for not telling the teachers about your little 'incident' on the train."

"Yeah right Malfoy," Frank began, "The only reason you didn't tell the teachers was because you would have then had to admit that you were beaten by a girl." I grinned, Malfoy glared at Frank.

"Well," he ignored Frank's comment, "You still owe me big time."

"Actually I don't, you see you may not have told anyone about what happened on the train, but I told Dumbledore and he told me that I had nothing to worry about." Malfoy's face dropped, I knew that I had got him with that last comment. Of course Dumbledore hadn't actually said that but what Malfoy didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

It was then that he caught sight of Severus standing with Frank and Remus. Since meeting, the three of them had become fast friends. They worked together in practically all their combined classes except Potions; he still worked with me and Lily then.

"Why are you hanging around with these blood traitors Snape, you should be ashamed of yourself, Slytherin's don't be friends with Gryffindor's." It was true that since Severus was with us most of the time a lot of the Slytherin's disliked him.

"I'd rather hang out with these guys than you and your friends Lucius." Lucius looked like he was going to punch Sev.

"Come on guys lets get out of here." Alice spoke above the tense atmosphere we had created.

"Aww scared of us are you?"  
>"You wish!"<p>

"Come on guys, we'll go and leave Barbie here to play with his hair and gossip like a good little girl!"

"Barbie?" Lily asked as we walked back to the Gryffindor common room.

"Well he has long blonde hair, so he reminds me of a Barbie doll." This got everyone laughing.  
>"We'll have to remember that, we all need to start calling him Barbie, he'll be so annoyed!" James said through his laughter. It was then I noticed Sev walking away from the group.<p>

"Hey where you going Sev?" He turned to me and replied,

"My common room."

"What and be attacked by the rest of the Slytherin's, I don't think so." Sirius walked over to Sev and pulled him back to the group.

"Come back to Gryffindor tower with us." Severus glanced at the rest of us, and saw that we all agreed with Sirius.

"What about the other Gryffindor's? I doubt they would want a slimy Slytherin in their common room."

"Who cares what they think? We have invited you to our common room and if they don't like it they can leave." Severus agreed and we continued our walk back to the common room.

Severus's POV

I lost count of the number of dirty looks I got as I entered the Gryffindor common room with Rachel and the others. Everyone turned to stare at me, I heard whispers from behind my back, "Isn't he in Slytherin?", "What's he doing in here?", "He shouldn't be allowed in here with us!" I wanted to run as far away from here as I could, but Rachel linked her arm in mine, and spoke clearly.

"Sev is with us, does anyone have a problem with that?" Nobody spoke, they could all tell from the tone of her voice that Rachel meant business, and even though she was a 1st year nobody dared to talk back to her. Just then Hunter came down the stairs with Isabelle, and they spotted me. It was Hunter who spoke first, and believe me I wasn't expecting him to say what he did.

"Well hi. You're Severus aren't you, I remember you from the sorting ceremony." I nodded, the Isabelle joined in.

"Welcome to Gryffindor, it's nice to see that some people aren't afraid to ignore the old rivalry between our houses." Rachel smiled and I felt my face light up too.

"Come on," James broke the silence, "Let's go up our room and play exploding snap."

"I'll catch up; I want to grab my sketch pad." Rachel slipped her arm out of mine and walked to her room, and the rest of us walked off to the boy's room.

Rachel's POV

Ok, so maybe I had told a little lie, well not a complete one. I did want to get my sketch pad and do a few doodles of the others, but I also wanted to be alone for a few minutes. I knew about the rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin house, it was mentioned in enough books I had read, and the students felt the need to remind us everyday. But still, I thought that they could have shown Sev a little more respect. It's not like he asked the Sorting Hat to place him in Slytherin is it? Ok true I didn't actually know that, but I didn't think Sev would do that. I started to punch my pillow, needing to take my anger out on something. After a minute or two I stopped, my pillow thanked me for it. With most of my anger gone, I picked up me sketch pad and pencil case, and left the room.

I managed to find the boy's room without getting lost, and pushed the door open. James and Sirius were sitting on one of the beds, Alice and Maddy on another. Lily and Severus were sitting cross legged on the floor and Frank and Remus also joined them; they all were in the fit of laughed.

"What did I miss?" I joined the group on the floor.

"Sev's just been telling us about what it's like to share a room with Lucius Malfoy and his buddies."

"God knows what it's gonna be like when I get back to the room tonight."

"It's a shame that you can't stay with us, we could stay up all night telling stories."

"Maybe you could ask Slughorn if you could change rooms. Isn't there anyone else you could share a room with?"

"I don't think so, but I'll ask and see what he says."

James had by this point got out the exploding snap, and we all sat on the floor and began to play.

I lost track of the time we spent playing. After about 6 or 7 games I sat out and started drawing the group. I managed to draw 2 pencil drawings before Remus interrupted the group.  
>"Maybe we should stop there, dinners in 15 minutes."<p>

"Really?" Alice looked at her watch.  
>"Time went quickly, the last time I check my watch it was only 2 o'clock, now it's nearly half 6."<p>

James played his card and won the game. Then he slipped the cards back into the packet and we left for dinner.

The common room was empty as we left, Sev wanted to slip back to the Slytherin common room to get his jumper before dinner. We all volunteered to go back to the Slytherin common room with Sev before dinner, so instead of heading to the great hall, we carried on past and headed towards the dungeons. Sev walked ahead towards a brick wall at which point he stopped.

"This is the Slytherin common room door?" James cried in disbelief.

"Unless you have the password this is all you can see, Puritatem." The wall slid along to reveal a door which opened at the sound of Sev's voice.

"It's Latin for purity, shame Slughorn couldn't have picked something else." He stepped inside and we followed.

The Slytherin common room wasn't at all like I had expected. The walls were covered in dark green tapestries, a roaring fire was lit in the middle of the room and through the windows you could see the water of the Black Lake and mer-people swimming past. One hissed at us.

'This is weird.'

'I know Lil, but don't say anything to Sev'

Severus slipped up the stairs to his room leaving us standing in the middle of the common room. It was at this point that the door opened. I held my breath, if that was Lucius Malfoy again I would probably not be able to keep a lid on my magic, and to be completely honest, I kinda didn't want to. Luckily for me it was only Professor Slughorn.

"What are you children doing in here?"

"We're waiting for Severus Professor" Alice told him in a shy voice. Frank, who was standing next to her, took her hand in his. Alice seemed to brighten up instantly. It was obvious to everyone that they really liked each other, and Frank had finally picked up the courage to ask Alice to go out with him that morning. Alice had squealed about it in our room that morning.

"Oh. It's nice that you aren't bothered by the rivalry of your houses. Ah Severus my boy, is anyone else still in their rooms?"  
>"I don't know Professor, I don't think so; Professor could I talk to you after dinner about my room-mates?"<p>

"Certainly my boy, come by my quarters when you have finished dinner." With that Slughorn slipped up the stairs to check the rooms, and we all filed out of the room.

After rushing to the great hall, we made it just in time for dinner. Sev slipped over to the Slytherin table, where I noticed the Slytherin's ignored him. I sat next to Lily and Remus as Dumbledore stood up to make his nightly announcement.

"I have just one announcement tonight; enjoy the food." With a wave of his hands the food appeared and everyone started eating.

It was about half way through dinner that a note appeared next to my plate. It just sat there after appearing out of thin air with my name in swirly writing. I slipped the note onto my lap and opened it under the table, it was from Professor McGonagall.

"Rachel, please come and see me in my office after you have finished your dinner. Professor McGonagall"

I knew instantly what it was about. I looked up towards the staff table at the head of the room. Professor McGonagall caught my look and smiled. I smiled back and held up the note for her to see. I nodded, to indicate that I would come, she nodded back. I turned my gaze back to my dinner, suddenly I didn't feel hungry.

The end of dinner couldn't come quick enough. Hunter and Isabelle rounded up the Gryffindor's and headed back to the common room. I whispered in Lily's ear that I needed to see Professor McGonagall and slipped off to her office.

I knocked nervously on her door, "Enter". The door creaked loudly as I pushed it open and walked inside. Professor McGonagall was sitting behind her desk and I noticed that she wasn't wearing her hat; it was sitting on the desk next to her.

"Ah Rachel, come in my dear, have a seat." I pulled one of the chairs out from under the table and sat down.

"I think you can probably guess why I wanted to see you."  
>"My magic"<p>

"Yes, I want you to tell me how you think you can control your magic."

"Well, it only seems to happen when I get really mad, or someone makes me jump. If I can keep myself calm then I'm ok."  
>Professor McGonagall was silent for a few minutes, then she waved her wand and the tables and chairs moved to the sides of the room and a dummy appeared out of nowhere. She got up and walked towards me.<p>

"Do you have your wand with you?" I nodded

"What I want you to do is stare at the dummy and think about the one person who makes you the maddest. Once you have that person in your head point your wand at the dummy and say 'Contester' ok?" I nodded in agreement and turned to face the dummy.

I'll give you three guesses as to who I chose to make me angry. Lucius Malfoy's face appeared in my mind; I grinned and pointed my wand at the dummy.  
>"Contester!" White light erupted from my wand and hit the dummy right in the chest. Professor McGonagall stared open mouthed. The dummy was lying flat on the floor after having crashed into the wall. Part of the dummy was still imprinted in the wall. I lowered my wand.<p>

"Well, that is a clear indication of what you can do my dear."

"Professor what kind of spell is Contester?"

"Contester is a duelling spell. It allows the speaker to cause their opponent to fly backwards away from the attacker; a very useful spell."

Professor McGonagall and I sat talking for about 30 minutes when she noticed my yawn.

"I think that we will call it a night, you head off to bed now, I will come and find you at some point next week to talk about your training."

I thanked her and slipped out of the room, heading for the Gryffindor tower. As I entered I found Isabelle sitting by the fire again. She was alone and I noticed that she had been crying. She turned her head as I entered.

"You've been out late."  
>"Professor McGonagall wanted to see me about something."<br>"Oh." She turned her head back to the fire.

"Are you feeling better?"  
>"Yes, thank you for the picture how did you know I loved rainbows?"<br>"Hunter mentioned that you like the weather so I thought a rainbow would be a nice idea." Isabelle smiled.

"Hunter always did know a lot about me. We've been friends since our first year, I was very glad when I found out that we were going to be prefects together." I joined Isabelle on the floor and we sat for a while just staring at the flames.

"She meant the world to me you know."  
>"Who?"<br>"My grandmother. She's the reason I was crying that morning you found me, she died just before I came back to Hogwarts this year."  
>"I'm sorry."<br>"It's ok. She used to look after me when my parents had to work. She called me her little angel." Isabelle's eyes filled with tears again. I hugged her and let her cry on my shoulder.

"I was the last person she spoke to. She told me to be happy in whatever I did, and never let anything slow me down."

"Was she a witch?"  
>"No, but her mother was. She knew I was a witch when I was little, I used to do little bits of magic around the house without thinking about it." I smiled.<p>

"She sounds like she was an amazing woman."  
>"She was. I just miss her so much."<p>

Isabelle and I sat up talking about her grandmother till quite late. We both noticed that the other was yawning and so we decided to call it a night and head to bed. As I slipped into my bed that night I couldn't help but think that maybe the whole Potens thing was going to be ok. Somehow just being able to talk to people anybody anything calmed me down. I rolled over and closed me eyes, sleep soon hit me.

Severus's POV

I couldn't thank Professor Slughorn enough. There was a small room down the corridor from my old room which was empty. I quickly transferred all my possessions (which wasn't many) into the room, glad to be getting away from Malfoy and his buddies. I could wait to tell Rachel and the others the next morning, and it would be Sunday so we could all spend the whole day together again. I turned over in bed and got comfortable and waited for sleep to take me.

**So another chapter, so sorry it has taken so long, I promise the next one will be up quicker. **

**Beth**

**Translations**

**Contester – Latin for Challenge**


	11. Chapter 10

**Hi everyone, I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to post another chapter of Sisters of Magic. I promise this wasn't intentional I have just had so much work to do lately and my free time has been taken up with rehearsals. But now the rehearsals are over, (so is the play) and the work load is dying down a little I will be writing like mad to make it up to my readers. Now for the reviews: **

The Yoshinator – Thanks for the review, you have no idea how much you comment made me smile and laugh, thank you so much, it was the perfect thing to put a smile on my face.

**Also I would like to make a shout out to all those who have put this story on their story alerts and favourite stories, and also to those who have put me on your favourites authors list, thanks you so much it really means a lot to me, that someone is reading my stories. **

**Anyway enough of my ramblings enjoy the chapter. ^_^**

Chapter 10

Rachel's POV

Life at Hogwarts had past quickly, too quickly if you ask me. No sooner had I started at Hogwarts, when the Christmas holidays came around. Luckily Mum had managed to find a copy of Labyrinth for me to give to Severus for Christmas, and the others were very easy to buy for. I decided since most of my new friends were not as clued in about the muggle world as me and Lily were, I would give them muggle gifts. I bought Alice and Maddy a CD each, James and Sirius a copy of a football player's autobiography (don't ask me which one, there all the same to me), Remus a copy of 'Great Expectations' after he expressed an interest in the muggle books I read and Frank a muggle cook book, (after he told us that his mother was a awful cook).

There's a tradition in our house, that Lily, Petunia and I will buy one small present for each of our parents or we will all join together and buy them a big present. This year we chose to buy small presents. I bought Mum a small locket and Lily bought the earrings to match, and I bought Dad a new strap for his watch. Lily and I always get Petunia a present from both of us, this year we got her a subscription to her favourite magazine, and I got Lily a dress that she had spotted in a shop window when we were out getting presents.

After Christmas came New Year, and then before we knew it Lily and I were back at Hogwarts with the others. The excitement of Christmas and New Year soon past and we were back working hard towards our end of year exams. End of year exams I found out were very different to exam I had done at muggle primary schools. Never the less thanks to some lengthy explanations from our teachers, we were soon on track to receive good grades. Although it wasn't the end of year exams that were worrying me the most; it was my lessons with Professor McGonagall. Although they were going well and she said I was well on my way to controlling my magic, I felt like she wasn't telling me something. I'd borrowed the book from Professor Dumbledore again and copied out the prophecy. I studied it whenever I could; nothing new seemed to jump out at me.

A few days after the last exam, we were all sitting by the Black Lake taking in the last of the summer sun before going home. James and Sirius were complaining about the Transfiguration test.

"I mean that was so hard!"  
>"I don't think it was." Lily smirked. She had a natural talent for Transfiguration and Charms; as did Maddy.<p>

"It wasn't too hard I guess, although the Herbology exam was really easy." Alice had taken to Herbology like a duck to water, as had Frank. James and Sirius were by far the best flyers in the year, and with my help and a few practises with James, Severus had caught up with the flying lessons. Although he was still one of the weaker flyers in the class, he was much better than he had been when we first started. Severus and I excelled Potions, and Defence against the Dark Arts wasn't that hard either. The only lesson I was having real trouble with was Astronomy. Gazing at stars just wasn't my thing, although I excelled at drawing the constellations. Remus was an all rounded good student in every lesson, which was great if any of us needed help with homework.

We sat at the Lake for a good few hours before Professor McGonagall found us.

"Ah Rachel can I have a word please?" Everyone looked at me, I groaned inside.

"Sure Professor" I got up and followed Professor McGonagall into the castle, gesturing to the others that I'd be back soon. I followed Professor McGonagall to her office where she gestured that I sit. I did. She slipped behind her desk and took off her robe folding it over her chair before sitting down.

"Rachel, this isn't going to be one of our lessons, I just wanted to talk to you before you left for the summer." I nodded along.

"I just wanted to know if anything was bothering you, or you had any questions to ask me." I hesitated long enough for Professor McGonagall to notice something was wrong. She slipped out of her seat and walked closer to me before sitting on one of the classroom stools.

"Rachel?"

"Professor, I get this feeling like there's something your not telling me. I'm not sure if it's to do with my magic or not, but I don't know how to explain it." Professor McGonagall held up her hand to silence me.

"I understand what you mean Rachel." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'm not really sure that I should be telling you this, but I believe you have a right to know." I listened with intent.

"Professor Dumbledore believes that your magic might be needed sooner rather than later."

"What do you mean Professor?" Professor McGonagall sighed.

"Dumbledore believes that the dark forces are getting more powerful quicker than anyone expected."  
>"How quickly?" She sensed the panic in my voice, and was quick to reassure to me.<br>"Not that quickly that you need to worry. To be completely honest with you Rachel, I think you have nothing to worry about, Professor Dumbledore's just being over precautious." I smiled. I don't who I trusted more, Professor Dumbledore or Professor McGonagall.

"Listen, go find your friends and have a nice holiday, you know where to send your owl if you need to talk to me." I slipped out of my seat and headed towards the door before turning to face Professor McGonagall again.

"How long do you think it will take before I need to fight?"

"I don't know, but whenever it is, we'll be ready. You won't be fighting on your own, I promise."

Lily's POV

Rachel had been disappearing with Professor McGonagall since we started at Hogwarts, which was beginning to worry me. Originally she claimed it was for extra catch up lessons for Transfiguration, but the grades she has been getting means that she can't need extra lessons!

"Guys is it just me or is Rachel disappearing with McGonagall quite a lot?" The others nodded in agreement.

"It's like she's got some secret than only McGonagall knows about." James spoke up from his conversation with Sirius.

"Guys leave her alone. I'm sure we've all got a secret that nobody else knows, and I'm pretty sure that some of us would be happy to keep it that way." Remus spoke to the group. I was sure that I saw a glimmer of despair in his eyes, almost like he was speaking from experience.

"It's not that, I just wish there was something I could do, she is my sister after all. I just feel a need to protect her you know." Sirius nodded. Everyone stared at him.

"I thought you couldn't stand Regulus?" James asked.

"I can't! I meant my cousin Nymphadora. She's like my little sister. Actually she will be staring here next year, wonder what house she'll get?" Everyone could see the emotion behind Sirius's devotion to his cousin. Just then Rachel arrived back, I leap up and ran towards my sister and engulfed her in a hug. Rachel gave a startled expression.

"Lil what's wrong?"  
>"Rach, why are you going to see McGonagall so often?"<p>

"I told you before she's been helping me with my transfiguration work."

"Rachel, you're grades are almost as good as Lily's, you don't need help." Alice piped up. I could see Rachel quickly thinking up an explanation in her mind, and stopped her before she could lie again.

"Rachel please don't lie to me, you know I can tell when you are lying. What's wrong?"

"Lily nothing is wrong I promise, Professor McGonagall has been helping me with something." Rachel looked around the group; we were all looking up with anxious looks on our faces. "Nothing is wrong I swear, I can't say anything more than that."

"Why?" This time it was Frank who questioned Rachel. It felt nice to know that so many people cared about my sister just as much as I did.

"I can't say, but I promise it is nothing bad."

We stopped questioning her after that. There was just something in the way she spoke that made me realise the true sadness in her voice, like she wanted to say something, but she couldn't for fear of some reason. I'd never known Rachel to keep something so important a secret, so I could only guess that it wasn't as big as we had thought. We all sat down again by the lake and took in the rest of the afternoon sun, before heading inside for dinner.

Rachel's POV

I knew that Lily was worried about me. It was written all over her face. I knew that I couldn't tell her about the prophecy. She'd flip! So I kept quiet, what else could I do? I knew that eventually I would need to say something, but I couldn't. Lily meant the world to me, every time I needed someone, she was there. When ever I was sad, Lily was there to cheer me up. I knew if I told her then she would want to fight to, and couldn't let her do that.

That summer was one of the best summers I've ever had. After we left the train at the station to meet Mum and Dad, we found them talking to Frank's mother, and eventually everyone else's parents joined the conversation, except for Sev's Dad. This seemed to please Severus, something which I couldn't understand. I love my Dad, and I would be lost if something happened to him. Although Severus's Mum seemed nice; as it turned out she had met Mum in town many times and they were amazed to find out that we had become friends. To celebrate our first year at Hogwarts coming to an end, James's parents invited us to their home in a week for a feast. There was some confusion as to how we would get their considering our house wasn't connected to the floo network and we couldn't disapparate, but in the end James's Dad offered to come and get us around 6.

The feast was amazing. The Potter family house elves did an amazing job with the food, and I had to compliment them at the end of the evening. Lily and I took a frisbee with us and spent the better part of the evening teaching everyone how to play. James and Sirius bought along their broomsticks and were showing off to everyone. Eventually James offered me his broom and I went for a ride. The night air was cool and delightful to fly in. Mum and Dad stood with their mouths gapping as I flew around the Potter family garden. We also got to meet Sirius's cousin, Tonks. When Sirius introduced her as 'Nymphadora' she punched his arm until he called her Tonks. Lily and I stood with our eyes glued to Tonks as her anger took over and her hair changed from its bright bubble gum pink colour, to angry red.

"How did you do that?" Lily asked.

"Easy. I'm a metamorphmagus. I can change my appearance as and when I want." To prove this she changed her hair to and electric green and then back to the bubblegum pink colour she had been earlier.

After spending a good few hours at the Potter home, we decided that it was time to leave. Although the Potter's said we could stay over if we wanted, Mum and Dad decided that it was best we go home. Lily and I exchanged goodbyes with our friends with the promise to owl each other loads, and to try and meet in the holidays.

As it turned out we did manage to meet twice over the summer, once for a sleepover at Alice's house, and another time to spend the day at Maddy's. The boys weren't aloud to come to the sleepover, but Tonks was and we ended up having a great time. Alice said that she and Frank had met each other's parents over the holidays to tell them that they were dating, and she said that they had also gone out a couple of times, with Frank being the perfect gentleman. Lily also seemed to soften a bit towards James over the holidays. It was obvious that he had a crush on her, and I could see that somewhere in Lily, she had a little bit of a crush on him too, but I knew my sister. I also knew that she wouldn't do anything about it, so Alice, Maddy, Tonks and myself agreed that we would try and get them together over our second year. Sirius, Remus, Frank and Severus also agreed to try and convince James to act on his feeling too.

As quickly as the holidays came around, they finished as soon we were back in Diagon Alley buying our supplies for our second year. Mum and Dad also decided to set me and Lily up with an account each at Gringotts, so we wouldn't have to keep changing our muggle money for wizard currency every time we went to buy supplies. Luckily we didn't bump into Lucius Malfoy like last time!

Nobody in particular's POV ^-^

Soon it was time for another term at Hogwarts to begin. Lily and Rachel stepped out of the car at King's Cross and headed for the platforms. After an uneasy run through platform 9 and ¾ (nobody liked running at a brick wall) the family found themselves standing on the platform next to the Hogwarts Express. A squeal erupted from the crowds and Rachel and Lily turned to see a pink haired girl running towards them with Sirius trying to catch up with her. Tonks flew at the sisters and pulled them into a huge hug.

"I missed you guys!"

"Tonks you saw us about a week ago."

"I know but a week is still a long time." Tonks beamed at the twins as Sirius finally caught up.

"Hey Nymphadora, if I loose you your mum isn't going to be happy with me!"  
>"Don't call me Nymphadora!" Tonks scowled and her hair turned red as she glared at her cousin.<p>

"Whoa, what did Siri do to annoy the pink one?" James laughed, as he appeared with Maddy.

"He called her Nymphadora." James and Maddy looked at each other.

"Playing with fire there aren't you Sirius?" Maddy spoke slyly at the boy. The others laughed, Sirius included.

"Come on guys or we're going to miss the train." Alice said after she and Frank had appeared with Frank's mother.

"Guys we can't. What about Sev?" Rachel had a hint of panic in her voice, "We can't leave him. You guys go and get a compartment and I'll wait for him."

"No need I'm here. Hi sorry the traffic around the car park was terrible, mum had to drop me off." Severus smiled as he looked at his friends and his eyes sparkled as he looked at Rachel; something which didn't go unnoticed by Maddy, Alice, Lily and Tonks.

After saying goodbye to their parents the group of friends boarded the train, and quickly decided to change before the toilets got too busy. Rachel walked back to the compartment after getting changed and she noticed that Remus wasn't alone in the compartment; in fact he was talking to Tonks. Rachel slipped open the door to enter the compartment when she heard her name being called. She turned to see Lucius Malfoy standing at the end of the corridor glaring at her. She groaned; she had hoped for a quite ride to Hogwarts where she could read a book or chat with her friends.

"Well look who it is, the little freak girl; all alone are we freak girl?"

"Why scared you couldn't handle a group of us?" Lucius laughed before advancing closer to Rachel, who stood her ground.

"I could take you down without my wand."

"I'd like to see you try." Lucius threw a punch at Rachel's face, she ducked and he hit the compartment wall. Lucius grabbed his hand.  
>"Owww, this is your fault you freak."<br>"Excuse me, someone throws a punch at you, you move, it's not that hard to understand."

Rachel slipped into the compartment and sat down next to Tonks.

"What was that all about?"  
>"Oh, just Lucius Malfoy aiming to hit me, I ducked and he hit the wall." Tonks and Remus looked at each other and shrugged.<p>

The rest of the train ride was quiet. The others returned from changing and soon the whole group was playing a huge game of Exploding Snap. Eventually the train pulled into the station and the students got off. With a wave Tonks headed over to Hagrid and the other first years and headed to the boats. The others headed into the school with the other second years. Rachel noticed that Lucius was talking to Madam Pomfrey who had come down to greet the students with Hagrid and Professor Slughorn. She was inspecting his hand and eventually Rachel saw her cast a spell over it, and wrapped it up in a white bandage. She chuckled to herself as they filled into the Great Hall and took their seats at their house tables.

They had barely sat down when Dumbledore announced that it was time for the sorting ceremony. The great doors opened and the first years entered the hall, dressed smartly in their robes. It was easy to spot Tonks. She was grinning from ear to ear, and her bright pink hair was enough to light up the room. The hall became quiet as the sorting began. By the time McGonagall reached Tonks's name well over half the students had been sorted, "Nymphadora Tonks?"

"I prefer Tonks Miss." Tonks walked up the stool and sat down. The hat had barely been on her head 5 seconds when it announced,

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff table cheered. Sirius got up and gave his cousin a hug as she passed the Gryffindor table to reach her house.

"I wanted to be in Gryffindor with you guys." Tonks whispered to him sadly.

"Hey, you can come and hang out with us whenever you want."  
>"Promise?"<br>"Promise." Tonks smiled at her cousin and her friends before joining the Hufflepuff's and taking a seat. She didn't care about her house now, her friends would always be there for her whenever she needed them, and boy was Sirius going to regret saying that she could hang out with the other's whenever she wanted!

**Everyone I'm so sorry that it has taken me so long to write another chapter, school has just been so crazy, I guess that's the disadvantage of doing my A-Levels! But I have some good news, my exams are coming up (that's not the good news) and my exams are all in the first week (that's not the good news either!) so that means after the first week I will have 3 weeks of absolutely nothing! So hopefully I can catch up with my stories and post some more chapters; also I have a question for all my readers and I need your help. PATRONUS'ES! I have yet to decide on the Patronus'es of my characters, I will be however keeping some of the original Patronus'es:**

**Tonks and Remus = Werewolf**

**James and Lily = Stag and Doe**

**Sirius will be a dog (for obvious reasons), but I need help deciding on a Patronus for Frank, Alice, Maddy, Severus and Rachel. (Since in this story Severus isn't in love with Lily, it doesn't make sense for his Patronus to be a doe) So any ideas people have would be gratefully received ^_^**

**Ok I will stop my rambling there so please read and review it means a lot to me. **

**Beth ^_^**


	12. Chapter 11

**Everyone I am sooooo sorry that I haven't updated in ages, my life has been really busy lately, but I only have a week of school left then I am on my holidays, so I will be writing loads to make up, I promise. **

**I wanted to say thank you to xSyNyStErX, XxBookXxWormXx and brooke.h16 for your input with my Patronus problem, and to make sure everyone knows that I'm still open for suggestions. **

**So thanks again, and enjoy the chapter ^_^**

Chapter 11

(A few weeks into the new term)

Rachel knew something was wrong. Everywhere she went someone came with her, she was never alone, in fact she hadn't been able to have a lesson with Professor McGonagall because they refused to leave her side. It was getting slightly annoying. The girls accompanied her to their dorm, everyone went with her to lessons, in fact the only person who wasn't with her constantly was Remus, due to him being in the hospital wing. Rachel was worried to say the least. Did everyone think something was wrong with her, did they think she was dying and that was why they spent every moment with her? Rachel was fed up, however she knew someone who could give her a straight answer.

Late on night, Rachel awoke to the sound of snoring in her dorm room. She glanced out of the window and saw the sun was rising in the sky. She smiled to herself nobody but her would be awake. She slipped out of her bed, her feet resting on the cold floor. She reached under her duvet and pulled out her fluffy socks, before having a thought.

'If I don't get back in time, do I really want the whole school to see me in my pj's and fluffy socks?' Rachel knew the answer and so she quickly and quietly slipped into her uniform and pulled on her comfy flat shoes, which she used for school. Silently she reached for her hairbrush and band, and pulled her hair into a plait. She stopped suddenly as she heard Maddy moan in her sleep. The girl turned over and was swept back into her deep sleep with a snore. Rachel stifled a chuckle to herself, as she slipped out of the dorm and quietly out of the common room.

A couple of the portraits looked at her as she slipped along the corridors; they whispered to themselves, Rachel ignored them. She continued down her chosen path, until she reached her destination; the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey was no where to be seen, so Rachel slipped silently over to Remus's bed. The young boy was wide awake.

"Hey."

"Rachel? Shouldn't you be asleep?" Rachel shrugged of Remus's question and replaced it with one of her own.

"How are you feeling?"

"Not too bad, Madam Pomfrey's going to check me out in the morning, and if everything's ok I can leave this morning."

"That's good." Rachel went silent. Remus shifted uncomfortably.

"Is something wrong?" He asked her.

"Why is everyone following me everywhere? It's so annoying, the only time I'm alone is when I got to the loo!" Remus chuckled.

"I thought you would have clocked them by now." Rachel stared at him. Remus sighed.

"They're worried when you kept disappearing so much at the beginning of the term, it was just like last term, so they decided to stick as close to you as possible to try and find out what was wrong." Rachel leaned back into her seat.

"So that's why I feel like they've been giving me the Spanish Inquisition these past few days. Lily has been questioning me at every available point." Remus chuckled.

"Hang on, why didn't someone just ask me why I kept disappearing? Surely that would have been easier?" Remus looked at Rachel.

"Would you have given us the true answer?" Rachel thought for a moment before replying.

"Probably not; it's complicated though." Remus turned his head.

"Rachel, we all really care about you, we just want to know that you're ok."

Rachel's POV

I suddenly felt really guilty. I should have told everyone the truth from the beginning. In fact McGonagall had asked me on more than one occasion if I was going to tell everyone about my powers. I knew then what I should do.

"Remus I'm so sorry. I've been really stupid, I should have told you guys everything from the beginning, I'll set everything right though, I promise." Remus smiled.

Later that afternoon after classes had finished, and I had been followed everywhere, luckily I had managed to get back to the Gryffindor tower before the others noticed I was missing, I had asked everyone if we could go for a walk to the hospital wing to pick up Remus before we went to the Black Lake. Remus was waiting for us in the arch way.

"They let you out then?" Remus chuckled; Tonks reached into her pocket and pulled out a bar of chocolate which she passed to him. He smiled, she smiled back. Lily moved her head to face mine; she motioned towards Remus and Tonks and winked. I guessed it wouldn't be long before Alice and Frank were the only couple in our group.

"Ok," We were sitting by the Black Lake, and I knew that it was time to come clean. "I know that you guys have been worried about me, which is why you aren't leaving me alone." Everyone except Remus looked a bit sheepish. I continued.

"And I just wanted to say that although it is a kind thought, I don't need you guys to be with me at every second of every day." I took a deep breath before continuing.

"And I think that it's maybe time I came clean to you all. I know you've only been following me because of my lessons with Professor McGonagall."

Everyone stared at Remus.

"What?" He stared back.

"You told her!" James cried in disbelief.

"She had a right to know why the only time to herself she is getting at the moment is when she goes to the toilet!" Tonks couldn't help but giggle, a giggle which earnt her a glare from my twin. She stopped pretty much instantly.

"Guys don't take it out on Remus, I made him tell me. If it's any consolation he did resist at first." Remus knew I was lying, but he didn't seem too bothered. The others looked around catching each others eyes. It was Alice who spoke first.

"Ok then, why have you been seeing Professor McGonagall in private since the being of our first year?"

"She's been helping me. You all remember what happened on the train don't you?"

"What, I thought you just tripped up Malfoy?"

"Tonks what are you on about?" Sirius asked. I quickly explained the situation in which I found myself tripping up Lucius Malfoy.

"I meant the first time I rode the Hogwarts express." I knew an explanation would be needed for Tonks's benefit.

"The first time I rode the Hogwarts express Lucius Malfoy managed to get me extremely angry by calling me a freak. I saw red, and before I knew what had happened I had produced a white light from my mind, which kinda caused him to fall backwards in the opposite direction." Tonks stared at me open mouthed.

"Wow, I knew you were clever, but that's amazing, how did you do it?"

"That's the thing, I don't know. I thought something was wrong with me; it also made me remember a time when I was really young, and I managed to do the exact same thing."

"When was that?" Lily asked.

"Primary school, some girl was picking on me and I just got really mad."

"You didn't tell me." Lily looked sad; I'd never made her upset before, well not intentionally.

"Lils, I didn't want you know because I knew you'd flip and tell mum and dad. I thought that something was wrong with me, and when it never happened again I forgot about it." This seemed to make her feel a bit better, but I knew I had betrayed her trust. I went over and hugged her tighter than I had ever hugged her before. I caught her off guard and she almost fell over it had not been for James who had been sitting behind her. He quickly jumped up and grabbed her shoulders. With her body more stable she hugged back.

"I'm so sorry Lils, I didn't want you to worry, you mean too much to me." She smiled and let go.

"You mean the world to me too Rach." Sitting back down again she flashed James a bright smile, he blushed; I laughed.

"Anyway, when I got here I knew that I needed to tell someone about what happened thinking that if I was ill, then this place seemed to be able to help me more than anything at home could. If anything it seemed more normal to be able to tell someone here I can make a light appear with my mind." That got a laugh. It made me feel better; I knew I could carry on and tell my secret.

"I spoke to Professor Dumbledore about and he gave me a book to read; Myths and Legends through time." That caused a look of recognition over everyone except Tonks. She still sat opened mouthed staring.

"I read the book, and it mentioned a prophecy about a girl called Potens. According to the description in the book I look exactly like her, which I'm guessing is why Dumbledore was so happy I was going to come to Hogwarts." Remus looked like he remembered the conversation we had had with Hagrid on our first day.

"The prophecy is a bit long winded, so I won't go into to much detail, but basically Potens was this really powerful witch who was only like 18 and yet she could do more magic than the whole magical village she lived in." I heard Alice gasp.

"Anyway, long story short there was this big battle and she was killed by a General from the opposite army. He was a bit insane from what I read, and he believed that magical and non-magical people shouldn't live together unless those who are magical submit to his ideas that Muggles were better than magical folk. Potens refused to believe this, and that caused the war. On her death bed she said that one day her powers would return in the body a young witch, and she would lead the magical folk to rebel against those who hated magic."

"Wow." James said. "And Dumbledore believes this is you?"

"Yes." James laughed. Lily hit him.  
>"That's not funny mate." Sirius said. I smiled a 'thank you' before turning to face James head on.<p>

"Perhaps you like a demonstration?" That wiped the smile off his face.

"I'm ok."

"No come on James, you thought she was lying." Remus said sarcastically. James didn't know what to do. I laughed.

"It's ok; I don't need to use you as target." I scouted the area and spotted tree stump about 6 ft away.

"See that tree stump over there," I said pointing.  
>"Watch it closely." I concentrated hard on the stump as Professor McGonagall had told me to, and silently I muttered a spell. My wand lit up and the spell flew from its tip, hitting the stump and disintegrating it. The other stared at me.<p>

"Believe me now James?" He blushed scarlet, which cause the others to fall about in a fit of laughter.

"If I say yes, will you all stop laughing?"

"No" came Frank's reply.

It was well over 3 minutes before anyone could sit up again without laughing.

"Anyway, I've been seeing McGonagall privately because she has been teaching me to control my magic. I don't want another accident like what happened on the train. If people knew what I could do, then I could never be normal. I know with magic I'm never going to be normal, but at least I can be normal-ish if I kept the magic under control."

"Why couldn't you just tell us that in the first place?" Severus asked.

"I didn't want to worry anyone." I spoke flat out.

(A few days later)

Nobody's POV

It had been a few days since Rachel had told her friends about her powers. She found herself sitting in Professor McGonagall's classroom one afternoon.

"So you finally managed to get your friends to stop following you?" McGonagall asked, sipping her tea. Rachel sipped at hers, she hadn't actually ever drunk tea before but she thought she had better be polite when Professor McGonagall asked. It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be.

"Yes, I told them everything." Professor McGonagall looked up at Rachel, her eyebrows slightly raised.

"I realised that it was silly of me to not tell my friends, they care about me and they only want to help me. Plus with them knowing the secret, I don't have to hide things from the anymore, and I hate not being able to tell Lily everything."

"Is she the only person you hate not being able to tell everything to?" Rachel looked confused. Professor McGonagall was sounding a little like a gossiping teenager.

"Didn't you want to tell Severus Snape everything when you found out?" Rachel blushed a little; Professor McGonagall smiled.

"Yes I did," said Rachel finding her voice again. "Only because I know he's my friend, and he would have helped me." Professor McGonagall smiled. Although she wasn't a teenager herself anymore, she could sense that deep down, Rachel and Severus had more than just a friendship between them, even if they didn't know it yet.

**A little shorter than my other chapters, but its ready to be posted. Again I'm so sorry that it has been such a long time since I posted, my life has been really hectic lately, just to remind people again that I am still open to taking suggestions for Patronus'es, so far I have the following, **

**Tonks and Remus – Wolves**

**Lily and James – Doe and Stag**

**Sirius – Dog**

**Frank and Alice – Lion and Lioness (thank you to brooke.h16 for the suggestion) However I still need a Patronus for Maddy, Severus and Rachel, so any suggestions will be greatly received. **

**Anyway enough of my ramblings enjoy the chapter and please leave a little review, thanks. **

**Beth **


	13. Chapter 12

**I'm sorry that it's taken so long, stuff just keeps popping up. Anyway enough from me, here is my latest chapter. This is set a few years in the future. **

Chapter 12

Rachel opened her eyes and gazed at the top of her bed. She smiled to herself as her mind drifted back to the day before.

_Flashback_

"_Lily, for the last time you so do like James!" Maddy shrieked. _

"_I do not!" Lily said blushing the same colour as her hair. Rachel, Maddy, Alice and Tonks laughed. Ever since Maddy had started going out with Sirius the week before, all the girls and the guys had been trying to get Lily and James together. Everyone knew that James had a huge crush on Lily, and it was only a matter of time before Lily realised that she liked James too. _

"_Lils, come on it will be so much easier if you just admit it." Tonks told her. _

"_Like you and Remus?!" Lily shot back. Tonks blushed. Tonks had obviously had a crush on Remus since her first year, and it had taken her until her third year to admit it, Remus however had also been battling with his feelings towards Tonks, but also with his friendship towards Sirius. Finally however their feelings got the better of both of them and they had been together since the beginning of the summer before Tonks' fourth year and Remus' fifth. _

"_At least we admitted we liked each other, unlike Rachel and Severus."_

"_Severus and I are just friends, how many times do we have to tell you that?!" The others rolled their eyes. _

"_Look we are talking about Lily and James, not me." Lily sighed. _

"_Lily, come on. James has been mad on you since our first year and it's obvious that you've been getting keen on him for the last few years." _

_Lily smiled. _

_End of Flashback_

Rachel slipped the covers off to find Lily sitting on her bed. She had a huge grin on her face. Rachel was shocked. Lily was never up before Rachel.

"What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I went to sit in the common room to revise for the Defence exam this afternoon, and guess who was there?"

"Jamie?" Lily nodded furiously.

"We got talking and guess what happened?"

"You told him how you felt and he felt the same and you ended up kissing passionately for ages." Rachel said with a hint of joking in her voice. To her surprise Lily replied,

"Yes!" Lily clapped her hands together, which in turn woke up Alice, Maddy and Tonks, who had been given permission by Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore to stay in the Gryffindor tower that night.

"What is going on?"

"Lily kissed James!" Rachel shouted. The other girls squealed.

"Finally!" Maddy cried above the din of the squealing girls.

"So does that mean you're dating now?" Alice asked when the girl had quietened.

"I think so," Lily replied, "he asked me to go with him as his date to Hogsmead next weekend." Maddy and Tonks squealed again. Alice hugged Lily. Rachel joined in and soon the girls were grouped together in a huge hug.

"So Rachel, you know what this means, don't you?" Maddy asked with a glint in her eyes. Tonks caught on to Maddy's questioning and smiled her hair turning a neon shade of pink which glowed in the room. Rachel laughed.

"Tonks that has got to be the brightest your hair has ever been, you've practically lit up the room!" Tonks smiled and sat down next to Rachel on her bed, Maddy sat the other side. Alice and Lily sat on Lily's bed which was next to Rachel's. They hadn't got a clue what Maddy or Tonks was talking about. Rachel looked a little scared sitting between the two girls.

"Well, I'm dating Sirius, and Alice is dating Frank…" Maddy began.

"Ad I'm with Remus, and now Lily's dating James so…" Tonks added before they both finished,

"So you are the only single girl in the group!" They laughed and Rachel sighed.

"Guys I don't care that I'm the only single one of the group. I'm fine being single." Maddy and Tonks gave each other a glance, before they each continued annoying Rachel.

"Well I think we should do something about that don't you girls?" Tonks asked. Lily and Alice finally understood what Maddy and Tonks had been trying to do and they both nodded eagerly.

"We are going to set you up with Severus!" They all chorused. Rachel groaned and leapt from the bed.

"Oh no, no no no no no!" She shouted. "You guys are not setting up with Severus."

"Why not?! I thought you liked him!"

"I do but…" Rachel tried to explain but the girls all shook their heads.

"Face it Rach," Lily stated, "You like him."

"And pretty sure he likes you too." Alice said. Rachel looked at her, and before she could deny it, her voice said,

"You think so?"

"Gotcha!" Tonks shouted. Rachel groaned. Lily smiled and hugged her sister.

"Rach, look we mean it really. Severus likes you, we're sure of it, and we're also pretty sure you like him too." Rachel sighed.

"Is it that obvious?" She asked defeated. Lily smiled and hugged her again, the other girls joined her.

"Rachy look, just because you like Severus doesn't mean everyone knows. Only us lot, and possibly the guys, excluding Severus."

"WHAT!" Rachel yelled.

"Well, James may have said something about the two of you…" Lily trailed off.

"And Sirius may have agreed…" Maddy said.

"And Frank and I think you'd been really cute together!" Alice tried to defuse the situation.

"Ditto me and Remus." Tonks added. Rachel sighed again.

"Look come on, we've got an exam later, and I need to think about that."

"Rachel are you kidding me? You're the best at Defence against the Dark Arts. I wouldn't be surprised if Dumbledore offered you the teaching position in a few years." Maddy cried to the acknowledgement and agreement of the other girls. Rachel smiled a 'thank you'.

Later that afternoon the group (minus Severus) were sitting by the black waiting for him. Slughorn had collared him after the exam to talk with him about potions. Something about a change that Sev had made to a pain salve which had had brilliant effects. James had curled up with his back on a tree, Lily snuggled next to him. Maddy and Sirius were sitting next to them, both snuggled together but joking and laughing with the others, as were Tonks and Remus, and Alice and Frank. Rachel was sitting by her self with the group waiting for Sev. All day her head had been spinning with the idea of Severus liking her. She knew that if anything did happen between them and it went bad, it would have a knock-on affect on the group, and plus the fact she didn't want to loose one of her best friends. She sighed and pulled out her sketch pad. Drawing always made her feel calmer.

She'd been doodling away for about 15 minutes when the whole group's attention was caught by a group of students standing around a tree. They were laughing and cheering on someone, who the others couldn't see. They looked at each other and rising they made their way over to the tree, wands in hand in case they needed them. To their horror, Rachel's especially, they found Lucius Malfoy his wand raised pointing it at Severus, whom he had managed to magically hang from a tree.

"So Snape, where's your friends now eh? Not coming to help, are they?" It was then that Rachel noticed that most of the crowd was made up of Slytherin students with a few Gryffindors here and there. Rachel and the others were horrified.

'_Rachel, don't do anything stupid!" _Lily begged her sister, but she was too late.

"Hey Malfoy, leave him alone!" The whole group turned to gaze on the spunky little Rachel.

"Well well well look who it is. I think we've got some un-finished business, don't you?"

"Depends on what you mean by un-finished; if you mean have I come to kick your arse, then yeah we've got un-finished business." Lucius just laughed.

"Come on, you couldn't squat a fly." Lucius's girlfriend Narcissa Black stated firmly. Her older sister Bellatrix cackled. Rachel flung a stinging hex at Bellatrix's legs, which caused her to shriek and fall flat on her face.

"I'll get you for that you little mudblood!" Rachel felt her body tense, but she remembered what Professor McGonagall had told her and tried to calm herself down. It worked to an extent. Bellatrix fired a hex at Rachel, who ducked, which meant the curse hit one of the Gryffindors behind her. He shouted and fired a shot back, which of course started a duel between him and Bellatrix, something which Bellatrix won easily. She then turned her attention back to Rachel, but was caught off guard by two hex's one from Sirius, the other Maddy. Bellatrix began to duel them, as Alice ran off to get help. Lily and James took on Narcissa, who wasn't that good at duelling but she put up a fight, which left Rachel, Tonks, Remus and Frank. Frank and Remus quickly started to try and stop the duels which had broken out with Lucius's gang and the other younger students who had been caught as innocent bystanders. Tonks used her metamorphmagus skills to blend into the Slytherin crowd in search of Severus's wand, which she found quickly and pocketed it. Rachel meanwhile had taken on Lucius. There was only so much he could do whilst trying to keep Severus suspended at the same time. Then he realised something. Smirking, he dropped his wand and pointed it at her, which meant that Severus began to fall. Rachel quickly used her magic to stop Severus from smashing into the ground, which meant that she was caught by Lucius's last fired spell, which turned out to be the same spell Professor McGonagall had first taught Rachel.

"Contester!" Rachel flew backwards and almost fell into the Black Lake. That caused Lily to turn and she screamed when she saw her sister flying through the air. James was just quick enough to grab Lily and pull her out of the way before she was hit by a rouge hex. Tonks quickly ran through the crowds till she reached Severus. The group of onlookers had now disbanded, many were duelling with each other, most had run away to avoid a detention. Tonks quickly checked Severus had no obvious injuries other than his pride, before shoving his wand into his hand. He thanked her quickly, she nodded and went to help break up the duels, with Remus and Frank, who were at present fighting some 7th years Slytherin's who were scaring 1st year Ravenclaw's who had been trying to read under a tree. Severus ran to Rachel's aid. He was amazed she had managed to keep hold of her wand as she flew. Lucius was duelling her as she lay on the grass. Despite being slightly dazed Rachel was in perfect fighting order, and was quickly blocking Lucius's hexes and firing back her own. Severus sent a stinging hex at Lucius which hit him on the back of the legs, and he fell forward. Rachel quickly curled into a ball, which meant Lucius tripped over her and fell head first screaming into the Black Lake.

"What is going on here?!" Professor McGonagall yelled at the top of her voice. The students all stopped duelling, and turned to face McGonagall, which caused a few people to get hit with hexes.

"Who started all this?"

"Rachel did!" Shouted Bellatrix, to which Narcissa agreed.

"No way Professor!" James shouted, "It was Lucius. He had Sev hanging from a tree, so Rachel fired a hex in self defence."

"Then Bellatrix called her the m-word and tried to hit her with a hex, which missed and hit someone else, they fired back and that kinda started the whole thing." Maddy added. The others nodded in agreement. Then one of the first years Ravenclaw's stood up.

"Professor McGonagall?" She turned her head, and recognised the little boy as Michael Clearwater.

"Yes Mr Clearwater?"

"They're telling the truth. Those Slytherin's over there," he pointed to a few older boys, "began attacking us when the main duelling started. But we could all see and hear her," he pointed to Narcissa, "and him," he pointed to Lucius who had by now gotten out of the Lake dripping wet, "and her yelling and cursing the Gryffindors who helped us." Michael pointed to Bellatrix, and finally to Frank, Remus and Tonks; who smiled at being mistaken for a Gryffindor.

"Thank you Mr Clearwater, you may return to your friends. As for the rest of you, I will be informing your head of house and he and I will be handing out the necessary punishments." The group groaned but headed off all the same.

"Mr Malfoy, go and get dried off and then you can meet your girlfriend and her sister in my office. I believe that a lesson in manners and general kindness is needed for all of you." Narcissa ran to Lucius's side and helped him to walk to the Slytherin common room. Bellatrix gave Rachel a mean and menacing look as she walked past. Rachel lay till on the grass trying to catch her breath. Madam Pomfrey quickly ran down from the castle.

"Minerva, I got your message, is everyone alright?" The group nodded. It was then Minerva and Poppy noticed Rachel lying on the grass, with Severus crouching next to her.

"Miss Evans, are you alright?" Rachel nodded weakly.

"You look exhausted."

"I feel it." Rachel moaned. Madam Pomfrey knelt down next to her and quickly checked her over.

"Nothing's broken my dear; you may have a few bruises tomorrow, as will you all." She said to the others, "but for now I just think you are tired Rachel. You need to rest." Poppy transfigured a stretcher out of a rock, and moved Rachel onto it. Lily tore herself away from James and ran to Rachel; she had tears in her eyes.

"Rach, are you ok?" She cried to her sister.

"I'm fine Lily, you stay with the others and help Professor McGonagall sort this out."

"No I'm coming with you!"

"Lily…"

"No buts Rachel!"

"You sound just like mum." Rachel said, which earnt her a smile from her twin.

"We'll help get everything sorted Lily, you go with Rachel." Alice said, Lily nodded.

"Mister Snape, I would like you to come too, just so I can check that nothing has been damaged during your experience." Severus nodded and followed the stretcher, Lily and Madam Pomfrey back to the castle.

It was later that night when after what seemed like forever of persuading, Rachel had finally managed to get Lily to go to the Great Hall for dinner, and then to bed, that she found herself alone. Madam Pomfrey had told her that she was to rest, and luckily that tomorrow was a Saturday, so Rachel wouldn't miss any classes. She was to stay in the Hospital Wing that night and then to take it easy over the weekend and she should be fine. Rachel sighed and turned her head ready to sleep, when she yelped. In the bed next to her lay Severus and he was looking right at her.

"Sorry, I just wanted to check you were ok, Madam Pomfrey's making me stay overnight to be on the safe side." Severus said. Rachel smiled.

"That's ok; you just gave me a fright that's all." Severus looked around for Madam Pomfrey, and seeing her leaving the Hospital Wing for a bit, he slipped out of his bed and sat on the end of Rachel's bed. She sat up to talk to him.

"Thank for coming to my rescue." He said.

"No problem." There was an awkward silence.

"Rachel?" Severus asked. "Would you ermm… well would you like to I mean… ermm maybe go on the Hogsmead trip next weekend with me?"

"You mean like a date?" Rachel asked.

"Well… ermm… only if you wanted it to be a like date I mean." Severus looked down at the sheets. Rachel smiled.

"I'd love to." Severus looked up in amazement.

"Really?"

"Yeah, that is if you're ok with it being a date?"

"Sure I'm fine with that." He said quickly. They smiled at each other. Rachel yawned. Severus noticed and quickly decided that it was time they turned in for the night. He slipped back to his bed.

"Rach, why did you ask if it was a date?" She gulped.

"Well, the girls might have said something about me being the only single one of the group, and about maybe setting the two of use up or something so…" She trailed off.

"Would you have minded if they had?"

"A little, I don't really like people forcing me to go out with someone."

"What if that someone asked you of their own accord?" She stared at Severus with wide eyes.

"Are you saying what I think your saying?"

"Depends on what you think I'm thinking." He said with a smile. Rachel blushed.

"Are you asking me out?"

"I thought I did ask to the Hogsmead trip, but I get what you mean and… yeah, I wanna ask you out." Rachel beamed.

"Well why don't you?" She asked. This time it was Severus's turn to be surprised.

"Ok then, ermm… Rachel Evans would you ermm like to go out with me some time, like on a date?"

"Yes Sev I'd love to."

**And awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! Cute moment please! I have wanted to write about the famous 'mudblood' scene for ages, and I just couldn't wait any longer, so here we are. To start with I would like to say thanks to everyone who has given me ideas for Patronuses for the group, I think I have managed to make it down to a shortlist, but I am still open for suggestions if anyone has any, and a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed, or added my story or me to anything so far. I am sending out cookies to you all, double chocolate chip (my fav). So that's all from me for tonight, again please read and review I love reading your comments. **

**Night! **

**Beth ^_^**


	14. Chapter 13

**And here is my next chapter, enjoy! **

**PS I would like to dedicate this chapter to my mum as today is her birthday, Happy Birthday Mummy! ^_^**

Chapter 13

Rachel awoke the next morning with a huge smile on her face. She turned her head to see Severus wide awake reading a letter in his bed.

"Morning." Severus didn't reply, he continued to stare at the piece of paper.

"Sev?" Rachel questioned. She pulled the covers back from the bed and she slipped to Severus's bed, and hugged him.

"What's wrong?" Severus said nothing; he just passed Rachel the letter.

_Sev, _

_How are you doing? I expect you are slightly worried about why I am writing to you. I know we said that I wouldn't unless things got worse at home, but that's what I need to talk to you about. Over the last few weeks things here have been getting worse. Tobias has been shouting and drinking more than ever and I have finally decided that we can't live like this anymore. Last night was the worst. I knew something was wrong when he got home, so I sent Elizabeth an owl, telling her that if I didn't send her a reply in 10 minutes she was to call the police and an ambulance. I can't remember much after your father came into the living room. According to the police, the doctors and the Evans, I was found knocked unconscious on the floor after Tobias had beaten me to a pulp. I know now that things can't go on like this, which is why I have reported Tobias to the muggle police, and I will be filing for divorce. I'm so sorry that it has taken me this long to realise just how dangerous he was, but I promise now things will be getting better. Elizabeth and William have said that I will be staying with them until the doctors think I can be on my own again, so there is a possibility that they may be picking you up from Kings Cross. _

_I'm so sorry again Sev, things will be better now I promise. _

_Love, Mum_

Rachel re-read the letter, before turning to Severus.

"Sev…"

"My father used to beat me. He has been since I was little, it was worse when I started developing magic. That's why I was always waiting for the day I could come here. I wanted to learn about strong magic and be able to fight him off, to stop him hurting mum and me. Looks like mum got there first." Rachel was horrified.

"Sev why didn't you say anything?" Severus turned away from Rachel. She pulled him back to face her. Severus saw tears in her eyes.

"I thought we were your friends." Severus realised at once how this looked and her put his arms around her and pulled her close, Rachel made no attempt to fight him off.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want anyone else to get hurt. I thought if I kept it to myself then he couldn't hurt anyone I cared about." Severus pulled her closer and Rachel's tears subsided.

"I'm sorry Rachel. I just didn't want him to hurt you. If he found out I had a crush on you then he would have beat me harder, and then he could have possibly gone after you." Rachel turned her head to face his. She smiled through her teary eyes.

"So just how long have you had a crush on me then?" Severus smiled.

"To be honest I guess I've liked you ever since we first met. You were the first person to ever be nice to me without shouting some insult at me first." Rachel laughed.

"Well then I'm flattered Mr Snape." This set Severus laughing.

Several hours later Madam Pomfrey let the two of them leave the Hospital wing, and of course they left together.

"Hey Rachel, what are we going to tell everyone?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well ermm… are we going to like tell them that you're my girlfriend or whatever?"

"Well do you want me to be your girlfriend?" Severus blushed and Rachel guessed his answer, to which she chose to answer by slipping her hand into his. Severus looked right at her eyes.

"Does that answer your question? And no matter what you say you are going to be sitting with us at the Gryffindor table today." Severus smiled.

Rachel's POV

"Rachel!" Tonks cried as I slipped into the Great Hall, my hand still tangled between Severus's. She bolted from the Gryffindor table where she had been sitting with the others and rushed over to give both Severus and I a huge group hug. She hadn't even noticed our hands. Well, I thought she hadn't.

"OMG!" Her voice echoed around the hall as she began squealing at the top of her voice. The whole room turned to face us, including the teachers, which was slightly embarrassing.

"Tonks!" Maddy shouted at her, then she spotted our hands and she joined in the squealing.

"Miss Tonks, Miss Cross. Is there something wrong?" Dumbledore said. That shut the too of them up.

"No Professor." The both said in unison. Tonks gave me a wink. I blushed. It was then that Lucius and Narcissa came through the doors, followed by Bellatrix and her boyfriend Rodolphus. Bellatrix threw me a dirty look, and she was shortly followed by Narcissa poking her on the shoulder. She pointed to our hands.

"No way!" Bellatrix yelled. It was then Lucius noticed us.

"What are you doing Snape? You can't be serious, you're dating her!" The whole room stared open mouthed. I heard a few people muttering.

'But she's a Gryffindor and he's in Slytherin!'

'They can't be!'

'Why would Rachel want to date him?!' I sighed.

"Professor, may I?" Dumbledore nodded. I lead Severus to the front of the hall.

"Ok, so I don't care what you lot think, I am dating Severus and if you don't like it them tough." I felt Severus squeeze my hand. I smiled at him. He slipped his hand from mine and draped it round my shoulders. I leaned into him, despite the gasps from the students. Lily smiled as we joined them at the Gryffindor table. James summed us up for the group.

"About flippin' time!"

The week passed quickly. The whole school was still buzzing with the gossip that was mine and Severus's relationship. Slughorn had helped him to re-enforce the wards around his room, so that the 'death-eater wanna-be's' as we called them, couldn't get to him. I sent an owl to mum and dad telling them about Severus asking me out, and Severus sent an owl to dad, asking if it was ok for us to date. Mum and Dad were more than happy to let us date, as was Eileen; Sev's mum. Mum told me that Eileen was still staying with them as the Snape house was still a crime scene, and she didn't really want to go back their anyway. Mum said she had been looking at houses near to us trying to find somewhere for her and Sev to live. Sev was really happy that his dad was out of the picture, and he finally admitted it to the rest of the group that weekend. They were shocked, and horrified that Severus had had to put up with that all his life. From then on we all made a pact that we would all protect each other for the rest of our lives. I couldn't wait for the Hogsmead trip. As silly as it sounded, I had suddenly got very girly. I was asking the girls questions about what I should do on my very first date.

"Just be yourself Rachel." Maddy told me.

"Severus likes you for who you are." Alice added.

"So there's no need to dress yourself up!" Tonks piped in.

"And if he does hurt you Rach, I reserve the right to kick his but!" Lily said menacingly. We all laughed at that image.

We had all arranged to walk to Hogsmead together on Saturday, and then we would break up when we got there, and meet for a Butterbeer at the Hogshead later. And so at 10 on Saturday we all found ourselves dresses for a nice day walking towards Hogsmead, Severus and I walking hand in hand, as did the others. Once we had arrived, we arranged to meet outside the Hogshead at 3 for a Butterbeer, and then we would join the rest of the students and walk back to Hogwarts. Lily and James disappeared as soon as we got to Hogsmead, as did Maddy and Sirius. Tonks and Remus said their goodbyes and headed to Honeydukes, Alice and Frank deciding to go for a walk round the village. Severus and I stood still for a few moments both unsure of what to do next.

"So…" Severus started.

"So…"

"Do you need anything?" I shook my head.

"Me either." I had started to feel awkward. The suddenly an idea popped into my head.

"Hey how about we try something?" Severus nodded me to continue.

"I read this thing once about these two people who had become really good friends, and when they decided to try dating they found that they already knew everything about each other. So they pretended they didn't know each other and acted as if they had just met." Severus seemed to get my idea; he suddenly turned to me, with that mischievous glint in his eyes.

"In that case, hello there miss. May I say that you are looking very pretty today."

"Why thank you sir, I do believe that we haven't had the pleasure of being introduced. I am Rachel."

"And I'm Severus; may I ask you a little about yourself over an ice-cream at Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour?" Sev held out his arm.

"You may." I said and linked arms with him.

After a slightly uneasy start Severus and I had a wonderful date. The idea to pretend we had never met really helped and soon we were chatting away like old times, sharing an ice cream between the two of us. I was thankful to Lily and the girls for putting the idea of me and Severus in my head on that faithful day. Otherwise, I had visions of us becoming too good friends and never being able to tell each other how we really felt. It got to about quarter past 2, when we decided to leave the parlour and take a slow walk around the village, eventually ending up at the Hogshead, where we would meet the others. We reached a quiet spot towards the outskirts of the village, when we decided to sit for a while on the grass. We were both hand in hand, and his eyes had not left mine the whole time we had been talking in the ice cream shop. I had never felt so safe and happy in my life. The fact that Severus and I knew each other so well only added to the bond which had been created between the two of us. We lay down on the grass looking up at the blue sky. The day seemed perfect. Severus slipped his arm under my neck and pulled me close until I was practically digging into his side. I giggled.

"What?"

"Isn't this uncomfortable? Me digging into you side."

"It's not uncomfortable when I'm with you Rach." I blushed. Severus chuckled and pulled me closer (if that was even possible!)

"I've had a really nice time today."

"Me too. Do you think we could do this again sometime?"

"I would love to." Severus placed a light kiss on the top of my forehead. I turned my head to look at him. He looked back. I felt butterflies in my stomach. Neither of us said anything.

"Ermm, we should probably get going, the others will be wondering where we are."

"Yeah." Severus agreed taking his arm out from under my neck, and sitting up. I joined him smiling. He stood up, and extended his hand to me, to which I accepted. It was then he pulled out his wand and muttered a spell to himself. Suddenly a single red rose appeared out of nowhere. He passed it to me.

"For you, my girlfriend."

"Aw Sev thank you." I took the rose and smiled at him. Without thinking I stood up tall and placed a kiss on his cheek. He blushed slightly. So did I. He linked his hand in mine and slowly we began our walk back to town.

"Oh screw it." Sev said only a few steps onward. He turned and dropped his hand from mine. I wondered what he was doing, when he suddenly pressed his hands on my cheeks and lowered his lips to mine.

It took me all of 3 seconds to register that he was kissing me. And boy was he a good kisser. I felt myself kissing him back my hands finding their own way round his waist and clasping together round his back. His hand slowly dropped from my face as he realised that I wasn't going to push him away, and his hands slowly snaked their way around my waist. We both had our eyes closed, yet I felt like we were both seeing into each others hearts finding what we both wanted. After about a minute we both broke apart, arms still linked around each others waists.

"Wow." I whispered.

"Wow indeed." Sev whispered back.

Severus's POV

"Screw it." My mind suddenly clicked. I knew what I had felt for Rachel for years now, and now that she was in touching distance, and we were on a date, I couldn't stop myself. My hands reached out of their own accord to pull her face closer to mine, and my lips pressed against hers. I could sense the shock at first, I thought she would pull away; say I was going to fast, but no. She kissed back. She kissed me back! The girl I had been harbouring a crush on since first year was standing right next to me, her arms wrapped around my waist kissing me back! I felt like I would burst. I lowered my arms to wrap them around her waist and pulled her closer towards me. After a while we pulled apart arms still lingering round each others waists.

"Wow." She whispered.

"Wow indeed." That was all I could muster. She lifted her head to face mine; a smiled appearing on her lips. Her beautiful smile. I love her smile. It's that sort of smile that you can't help but fall in love with. A smile that you can't help but smile back to.

"I don't know much about kissing," she said, "but that felt good."

"I know what you mean." We smiled at each other before kissing again.

Lily's POV

"Where are they?" Tonks asked. "It's nearly 10 past 3, they're never late."

"Maybe they just lost track of time." Alice said.

"Yeah right." Sirius said sarcastically. I kicked him under the table. "Ow Lily!"

"That's my baby sister you're tabling about!"

"Hey less of the baby please, your only a few minutes older than me." Rachel and Severus finally appeared.

"Where have you been?" Maddy asked.

"We went for a walk and lost track of time." Severus explained. I could see a faint smile appearing on both his and Rachel's faces. I decided to ask her.

"_Rach, come on do you really think I'm gonna buy that?!" _I knew that the others wouldn't be able to guess we were talking telepathically. Over the years we had managed to control our facial expressions and emotions when we spoke.

"_Ok, ok. We did go for a walk and we did loose track of time; but we ended up just talking on the grassy patches on the outskirts of the village."_

"_And?" _

"_Well…" _I saw Rachel blushing at the thought. It suddenly clicked in my mind, and I gasped. The other looked at me.

"You didn't?!" I found myself asking out loud. Rachel blushed even redder.

"Didn't what?" Remus asked. Maddy looked between the two of us. Suddenly it clicked for her.

"No way!" Then James, Alice and Tonks clicked. They all gasped. Suddenly the whole table realised what they had been up to.

"Severus Snape you smooth talker!" Sirius called out. Severus turned just as red as Rachel.

"I'll get the Butterbeers." Frank said laughing, Alice joining him. I then noticed the rose in Rachel's hand.

"Cute." I pointed.

Tonks was sharing a room with us again that night, and she had begged Rachel to tell us how her date went in the fullest of details, when the others had gone to bed.

"We shared an ice cream at Fortescue's, and then we just went for a walk."

"Then what?" Tonks cried. "Come on! There's more than that."

Rachel giggled. "We… we… we just sort of…" Rachel tried to say.

"Come on girl, did you kiss him or not!" Maddy said.

"Yes!" Rachel cried, unable to hold it in any longer. We all cheered.

"So how was it?" We asked.

"It was… amazing. Sev's such a good kisser, and he's so romantic. It's just like something out of a fairytale." Rachel gushed. I smiled. I was happy for my baby sister.

"So does this mean you two are an item now?" Tonks suggested.

"Well, he calls me his girlfriend, so yeah I guess we are an item." Rachel smiled a 50,000 watt smile. I hugged her.

"You deserve him Rach. You too are made for each other." I said. Rachel thanked me.

"Hey, maybe he's the reincarnation of your warrior love, what was his name again?"

"Fortis"

"Yeah that's him. After all he does seem to want to protect you." Rachel smiled.

Rachel's POV

"Maybe, I don't know." I couldn't help but wonder. Severus did seem to want to protect me, but then again so did the others. And with a werewolf on my side, (yes we all knew about Remus's little condition and James called it. Infact Remus was due to transform within the next couple of days, which meant I needed to see Dumbledore about us going for a run in the forest with him, as our animagus'es of course) I felt pretty protected.

"Anyway, I need sleep so goodnight." The others agreed that it was time to sleep, and as I closed my eyes, I fell asleep dreaming of my handsome and romantic boyfriend.

**And another chapter finished. I will be introducing the animagus'es in the next chapter so keep an eye out for them; can anyone guess what they might be? (Not the obvious ones as that it cheating!) So hope you all enjoy the chapter, I couldn't help but make Severus slightly out of character, but I hope it worked. So as always please read and review, I love hearing from you. Enjoy!**

**Beth ^_^**


	15. Chapter 14

**I would like to start with a big thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and again a shout to the Yoshinator, because that is pretty much the coolest pen name I have ever heard! So this is the chapter where we find out the animagus'es. I have decided to give everyone an animagus (except for Remus for obvious reasons) so I would like to say thank you everyone who had left me a suggestion, you've all been really helpful. If anyone gets lost as to who is what, let me know and I'll post a list in the next chapter. **

**Also one last shout, I'm pretty sure I have mentioned this already, in fact I know I have in my comments at the beginning of chapters 2 and 8, this story is not set in the 60's, I'm setting it now. That is why Rachel has an iPod and the story seems a little modern. So could people please stop telling me that iPod's didn't exist back then. **

Chapter 14

Rachel's POV

I awoke bright and refreshed on Friday morning. The sun was just beginning to rise and so I slipped out of bed and rushed to the window, grabbing my sketch pad as I moved. I flicked through the pad till I found my next clean page. As I was flicking through, I came across a picture of Remus as his werewolf form, playing with James, Sirius and Frank in their animagus'es with the others close by. I sighed. I felt sorry for Remus, having been bitten when he was only young, and having to go through a painful and horrible transformation every month. It was nice that he had us to be able to play with. Dumbledore let us stay with him through out his transformations. We would all go down to the shrieking shack through a tunnel which Dumbledore had placed in the trunk of the Whomping Willow. Luckily since Alice's animagus was a rabbit, she was small enough to get past the branches and hit the switch which caused them to become stationary for long enough, for the rest of us to crawl into the passage, and into the little house type thing, Dumbledore had made for Remus. We all waited in a separate room whilst Remus 'changed' and then after he had calmed down we all transformed and joined him playing in the shack for the night. Recently Dumbledore had taken to letting us have the whole run of the forbidden forest to play. He warded off the forest so we couldn't come back into Hogwarts until we transformed back into humans. Then one of us would run and get Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey and they took Remus to the hospital whilst we all went to bed.

I was happy that today was a Friday. Not only because I had Defence against the Dark Arts as my only lesson of the day, I could also find Dumbledore and get permission to spend the night running through the forest with the others. We had all found out about his situation in our 3rd year. We had been learning about Werewolves in our Defence lesson, and suddenly it clicked in our minds. The reasons why Remus had always been absent from classes at some point during the month, the reasons why he always seemed tired and distant, it just all clicked. We all felt really silly for not helping him sooner, but with Dumbledore and McGonagall's help we all learnt how to become an animagus'es, which we registered quietly at the Ministry with Dumbledore's friend 'Mad Eye' Moody helping us, and this meant we could keep Remus company during the nights.

To begin with we decided that we would go in groups of 3. Normally it was Maddy, Alice and Frank one month, then Lily, James and Sirius the next and finally me, Severus and Tonks after that, and we alternated months. Since then Sev and I had been working on a pain relief potion for Remus, stronger than the ones already in use. It worked well and Remus was great full for it. He needed to drink it just before he transformed and just after too, which meant that someone always needed to make sure he took it during the nights. Since Sev and I made the potion we alternated months to stay with him and the group, and eventually Tonks started coming more and more, that was just before they started going out, and eventually we all started coming every month. Remus as a werewolf had gotten use to us and realised we posed no threats, so he was calm and relaxed around us. Sev and I had started working on another potion as well, to help Remus and other suffers keep more of their human emotions and memories when transforming, to try and make them more docile.

I finished the picture, and quickly wrote a note, which I would send to mum asking if she could get me another sketch book soon, as I had only got a few pages left in my current one. I decided to go visit Tehya after breakfast, and then go find Dumbledore.

Breakfast that morning was just as tasty as it always had been. Ever since the 'incident' with Lucius, Sev had taken to sitting with us at the Gryffindor table. At first everyone avoided him, in fact some people still did, but a few had gotten use to the idea of the Slytherin boy being an honorary Gryffindor, and some even talked to him occasionally. There was only a month left to the end of the term, and most of us fifth years, were worrying about our OWL's. Sev and I had been inundated with students asking for help with their Potions revision, a few had even asked about Defence against the Dark Arts, most however were ok and doing well with their revision. The exams were due to start the following week, and I was sure this weekend would be crammed with student's hurriedly trying to revise for the exams. We had decided that we would start testing each other a few weeks previous and so we all felt confident and calm about our exams. Alice and Frank had been helping with the Herbology revision, Remus had been helping with Astronomy and Lily had been helping with Divination along with Maddy.

"Morning all." James said plonking down into his seat next to Lily. He gave her a quick kiss on the lips before piling his plate with food. Sev soon joined us, and finally Remus and Tonks arrived. Remus looked terrible.

"You all right Moony?" James and Sirius had taken to nicknaming us all. Remus was Moony, Sirius was Padfoot, James was Prongs, Frank was Snowy, Alice was Bugs, Lily was Bambi, Tonks was Bubblegum, Maddy was Foxy, Severus was Prince, and I was Ice. (I found it best not to ask about my nickname.)

"Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired, you know tonight?"

"Don't worry Moony, we'll be there."

"I'm checking with Dumbledore this morning about going for a run again tonight, I'll let you all know later, meet at the lake?" The other's nodded in agreement.

As soon as I had finished my breakfast, I hurried back to the Gryffindor tower to get my note, which I took straight the Owlery and gave Tehya.

"Now take this straight to mum, you can wait for a reply, but don't worry if she does send one back. Do nip at Dad until he gives you a treat though. Oh and give this to Eileen." I said tapping another note to her other leg. Since Eileen was still living with mum and dad, I had decided to send her a drawing. It was of the group of us laughing and having fun down by the lake. I though what with everything that had happened to her recently she would appreciate something to smile at. Tehya nudged at my fingers and I stroked her soft feathered head, before she turn on her perch and flew out the window.

"Mum'll appreciate that picture you know." I jumped.

"Sev don't do that, you scared the life out of me." He laughed; I punched him in the arm.

"Ow." He said.

"Serves you right. Now did you come up here for something particular?"

"I thought maybe my girlfriend would like an escort to Dumbledore's office?" I chuckled. Even thought it had been a few weeks since our date at Hogsmead, I still found it strange that I was someone's girlfriend. I nodded my head, and Sev linked his arm round my mine, a giving me a quick kiss. I could smell his breakfast toast on his breath.

"You've got toast breath." I said, to which he laughed loudly.

We walked through the deserted corridors until we came to Dumbledore's office. I quickly flicked through my memory to recall the password he'd told me yesterday.

"Sherbet Lemon." The huge statue slid to reveal the stairs to which we both climbed. When they reached the top I knocked on the door.

"Come in Miss Evans, Mr Snape." I pushed open the door and the two of us entered.

Severus's POV

Rachel pushed open the door and I followed behind. Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk his glasses resting on his nose, and he was wearing another of his 'colourful' cloaks. Personally, I have a very strong opinion Dumbledore has very limited taste when it comes to clothes.

"Miss Evans, Mr Snape. What can I do for you this morning?"

"Sir we were wondering if you could ward off the forest tonight so we could go for a run again with Remus." Dumbledore smiled.

"Of course, wait for me after dinner and I will come down to the Shrieking Shack with you. I will be waiting outside the great hall."

"Thank you sir." I said. Rachel smiled and we turned on our heals and left the room.

"What do you want to do now?" I asked Rachel. "Class doesn't start for another hour."

"Well the others are down by the lake, do you mind if we go via the tower so I can get my bag and books? Then we'll go join them if that's ok?" I nodded and we left on a slow walk back to the Gryffindor tower. As we arrived Rachel gave the password to the Fat Lady, who still gave me dirty looks, what with me being a Slytherin and all.

"I'll wait down here." I said. Rachel nodded and quickly slipped up the stairs to her dorm room. I felt a little strange being left in the Gryffindor common room alone, even if there was no-one else here. Just then two owls flew into the window, both heading for me. I raised my arms and one landed on either arm, just as Rachel arrive back. She chuckled.

"You look like a scarecrow." She said through her laugher. I had to laugh with her, I did look ridiculous.

"That looks a bit like Hunter's owl, Apollo." Rachel noted as one owl flew from my arm and landed on hers.

"And that one looks like Isabelle's owl, Athena." Rachel took the letter the owl had waiting for her, and my owl held out a note for me.

"He is Hunter's owl." Rachel cried with delight. "I recognise the handwriting from the letter. Why is Hunter sending me a letter, we haven't spoke since he left Hogwarts."

Hunter and Isabelle had become quite good friends with the rest of the group in our second year and their last. Both were the Gryffindor 7th year Prefects in their final year, and there was a rumour going around the school after they left, that they had started dating.

"Hey Sev listen to this." Rachel began to read out the note.

"Hi Rachel, guess it's been a long time since we spoke, sorry about that I meant to keep in contact but life after Hogwarts has kept me really busy. I'm gonna keep this short as I haven't got much time to write it, but basically I wanted to ask you if you would be free on the 16th of July to attend mine and Isabelle's wedding. I know it's kinda short notice (what with that only being just over a month away), but it would really mean a lot to us both if you came. We are also extending this invitation to your boyfriend Severus (he must be your boyfriend by now!) and the rest of your group. Let us know as soon as you can. Hunter."

"What does yours say?"

"It's from Isabelle, she says "Severus, I'm guessing that by now Rachel has gotten Hunter's owl about the wedding, and so this is just a follow up from that, as Hunter has been silly and forgotten to include a time or a place for the wedding. Basically we are going to be having a church wedding for our muggle family relations, and then a binding ceremony for our magical friends. The biding ceremony to which you are all invited will be on the 16th July at Hunter's family home, you can floo in by the way. We are having the ceremony around 3 in the afternoon, so if you would like to arrive by 2:30 that would be very helpful. We both hope to see you all there, Isabelle."

"So I guess they were dating after they left Hogwarts."

"Come on, lets go to the lake and tell the others then we can all owl our parents to get permission and then get back to Hunter and Isabelle." I nodded and the Owl's flew out the open window.

Rachel's POV

We soon reached the Black Lake, the fact that we both ran obviously helped.

"You two running from someone?" Tonks asked. She was curled up to Remus who was resting under the shade of a tree. James and Lily were next to them, with Lily sitting on James's lap, Maddy and Sirius behind them playing exploding snap and Frank and Alice testing each other about Herbology.

"Nope." Sev said trying to catch his breath. "Rachel dared me to race, it's her fault."

"I didn't hear you complaining at the time." I said. I could have sworn I heard Sev swear under his breath. After a few minutes we had both managed to catch our breath and we sat down under the tree and started to tell the guys about the wedding invitations.

"Aww that's cute." Tonks said. Although she had only known Isabelle and Hunter for a year, she was just as friendly with them as we were.

"So what do you guys think?" I asked.

"Well I'd love to go." Alice said, Frank agreeing with her.

"Count us in." Sirius added wrapping his arm around Maddy's waist.

"We're going if you guys are going." Lily added.

"I think I should be ok." Remus added. "The full moon in July is around the 23rd I think."

"Speaking of, we spoke to Dumbledore and he's given us the ok for tonight." Sev added in a low voice.

"Thanks guys. You know you really don't have to do this." Remus said with a sad tone.

"Don't be silly Moony. You're a mate, and we don't let mates down." James added nudging the arm of one of his best friends. Remus groaned a little but was soon ok.

"You know, I've been thinking." Sirius said.

"Bad idea on the horizon." Maddy added which earnt a chuckle.

"No seriously, I think we need a group name."

"Like what?" Frank asked.

"The Maurders." Sirius said with a triumphant tone.

"You know as your ideas go that's not too bad cousin of mine." Tonks said.

"I'll agree with you on that." Lily added.

"Ok so the Maurders it is." James exclaimed. Remus chuckled.

Later that night as the sun was setting and dinner was being finished, we all excused ourselves from the Great Hall, and ran to our respective common rooms. We all grabbed warm clothes for the night ahead, as the Shrieking Shack could get quiet cold while we waited for Remus to transform. Once we had all the clothes we needed we ran back to the entrance to the Great Hall, to find Dumbledore waiting for us. Sev and Tonks had gotten their first and so we Gryffindor's bought up the rear.

"Are you all ready?" Dumbledore asked. We nodded.

The walk to the Whomping Willow was quite like usual. Remus seemed to be catching his breath as we walked. Tonks had her arm around his waist and was helping him to walk along with Frank. Lily had offered to carry Tonks's extra clothes, and Alice Frank's. As soon as we arrive Alice transformed into her animagus of a rabbit and slipped past the branches to enter the tree. She had soon flicked the switch and the tree stopped moving. Tonks entered the tunnel first, Remus following her, Frank behind him, James, then Sirius, then Maddy, then Lily, then Sev and finally me. Dumbledore grabbed my arm just as I was about to enter.

"Do you have enough of your potion for Remus tonight?"

"Yes, Sev and I placed a few vials down there last month in a secret hiding hole, so they couldn't be destroyed during our transformations." We had almost forgotten the potion one month, but luckily we had just enough time to go back and get them from my trunk under my bed.

"Well good luck tonight, and be safe. I've left the back tunnel to Hogwarts unwarded so far, so whoever casts the spell tonight will be able to slip back into the castle and get myself and Madam Pomfrey, we'll both be waiting in my office like normal." I nodded and slipped into the tunnel.

I arrived in the small house under the tree, to find Remus had already been settled into his room, with Sev helping him to take the first dose of the potion. Tonks was helping him, and the others were setting up changes of clothes and blankets for later on in the evening.

"Who's going to run back tonight?" I asked.

"I'll go tonight." Maddy replied, and picking up her wand, walked to the back entrance of the house to ward it off.

"You guys might want to start warding my door now." Remus said. "I can feel the beings of the change." We nodded and Sev quickly made sure Remus had drunk all of the potion, before leaving the room. Tonks quickly gave Remus a kiss on the lips and left the room. James closed the door behind her and warded it, so Remus couldn't escape. Tonks huddled into Sirius, hating to hear the sound of her boyfriend changing into a werewolf.

"Did you tell Remus about the other potion?" I whispered to Sev. We had decided that we would begin the testing of our second potion tonight, and with Remus's agreement Sev had helped him to drink it after he had taken the pain relief potion.

"Yep. He drank all of it, so we are ready for testing." I nodded.

After about an hour, which was the usual time we gave Remus to calm down after he changed. James removed the ward around Remus's room and Sirius slipped into his animagus form of a large dog, and entered the room. We always had one person enter the room first to make sure everything was ok. Sirius had just entered the room when he came bounding back out again. James went to shut the door but Sirius growled at him and pulled at mine and Sev's sleeves. We all rushed into the room, to see Remus sitting quietly and patiently on the rug in his room. Most of the room was torn to shreds from Remus's earlier changes but there he was a docile as a lamb sitting waiting for us. What made everyone of us stop and stare though, was the fact that from the position he was sitting in, Remus looked more like a dog than a wolf. He was sitting on his hind legs and his eyes, in steady of being yellow like they were when he normally transformed, they were a blueish green colour, like his eyes were everyday.

"Remus?" Tonks asked in disbelief. His head cocked to the side, and he moved to rub his head against her leg.

"That's…" James was unable to finish his sentence.

"What did you do?" Tonks asked looking back at me and Sev. We looked at each other.

"We gave Remus the first dose of our potion which will allow him to remain more human when he transforms."

"We had no idea it would work this well." I said.

"Remus can I?" Sev asked. The wolf sat back down in his spot and Sev walked up to him.

"This is amazing. He actually is more like a wolf, than a werewolf." Sev cried in disbelief. Wolf Remus smiled.

We gave it another hour to be certain that all the students were fast asleep before we slowly crept out of the tunnel into the forest. Sirius quickly transformed into a dog again and he and Remus began to chase each other through the forest. James soon joined them transformed into a Stag, and Sev, as a German Shepard and Frank, as a Husky Dog weren't far behind. Tonks transformed into a Grey wolf and Maddy changed into her animagus of a Red Fox, and soon they had followed the boys, with Lily as a Doe not far behind them. That only left Alice and me behind. I winked at her, and she slipped back into her form of a rabbit.

"Guys wait for us!" Since she was a rabbit Alice had a hard time keeping up with the others sometimes, so we often gave her a lift on our backs. I slipped into my transformation of a White Stallion, and lent down so Alice could jump on my back, and took off after the others through the forest.

We spent most of the night playing tag and play fighting in the forest. Alice sat on the side lines as she couldn't do much, but this was fine by her. She had told us many a time that she enjoyed watching us, although she was small though she could still fight with us when she wanted to. We all knew roughly what time we should head back to the Shrieking Shack for Remus to change back, and so we all turned back and head back after playing for most of the night. Remus walked into his room, shutting the door behind him. We all changed back, and slipped our extra jackets and jumpers over our heads, as the temperature had got colder through out the night. We waited for 10 minutes before we heard Remus's voice.

"I'm decent." Maddy opened the door and we all looked in. Although the potion had helped Remus to keep most of human qualities, he still looked tired, but he still looked better than before. I approached him and helped him to drink the vial of pain relief I had with me, while Maddy took the ward off the back door, changed back into a fox and ran to Dumbledore's office. She was a lot faster on four legs.

It took about 5 minutes for us to escape the Shack, after Alice had flicked the switch again. She soon joined us, just as Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey rushed to us, with Maddy behind them still in her fox form. She quickly changed back.

"Mr Lupin, considering what you have just been through, you look remarkably well."

"That's down to Sev and Rach." Dumbledore looked at us with a puzzled expression.

"We got Remus to try our second potion out tonight. It helps him to keep his human qualities when he changes." I explained.

"It worked like a treat." James exclaimed.

"Well, none the less I would still like to take you to the Hospital Wing and keep you in overnight." Madam Pomfrey stated. Remus nodded and we headed off back towards the castle.

Sev and I walked slowly behind the others. Lily was practically falling asleep on James, Alice was asleep and Frank was carrying her, Maddy and Sirius were running ahead of each other and Tonks was walking with Remus. We came to the main turning of the corridors and after giving Remus a quick kiss, Tonks headed off to the Hufflepuff common room to head to bed, Dumbledore bid us all goodnight and retired to his dorm, Remus and Madam Pomfrey continued their walk to the Hospital wing with Remus telling her about the potion and its effects, and the others just continued to the common room. I turned back to Sev.

"Guess I'm going this way." I smiled.

"Goodnight then sweetheart." Sev lowered his head and captured my lips with his, wrapping his arms around my waist. I slipped mine around his neck and deepened the kiss.

After about a minute we pulled apart.

"I'm never going to get over how good that feels." Sev whispered in my ear. I chuckled.

"Goodnight you. I'll see you at breakfast."

"Ok, I'll write mum a note tomorrow about Hunter and Isabelle's wedding and send it off after breakfast."

"Good idea, we can remind the others tomorrow." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and heading up to the tower. Sev stood watching me for a minute before heading to his own common room.

Later that night I was still awake in bed thinking about what had just happened. I could tell from the snoring that everyone else was asleep. Frank had woken Alice up just for long enough for her to change into her pj's and climb into bed before she was out for the count. Lily wasn't far behind her. Maddy and I stayed up talking for a bit before we both decided to hit the sack, and she soon drifted off. I smiled to myself. My life couldn't get anymore perfect. Little did I know that soon I would be getting myself into the most dangerous situation that I had been in, and that it would lead to the beginning of my nightmare.

**So another chapter complete. I'm sorry for my little rant at the beginning of the chapter but I get a bit annoyed when people read my stuff and ask me questions to which I have already answered. Anyway final rant over and so the normal applies, please read and review. I would like to aim for 35 reviews before I post my next chapter, so please get reviewing. And also I am currently trying to find a piece of art work for my story cover, so if anyone has any ideas for a cover or a piece of artwork they would like me to use please let me know. **

**Happy reading! **

**Beth ^_^**


	16. Chapter 15

**I'm sorry about the delay in which I have had posting this chapter, my life seems to revolve around my job at the moment. **

Chapter 15

Rachel's POV

The dreaded Owl's came and went without too much hassle. James and Sirius teased Remus a little after our defence exam, as one of the questions was about how to identify a werewolf.

"Did you answer question 5 Moony?!"

"What, how to identify a werewolf? Sure, 1) he's sitting in my chair, 2) his name is Remus Lupin and 3) if his friends don't shut up he is going to bite them!" That got the whole group laughing. Aside from that small incident the 2 weeks of exams went by pretty quick, and the weeks that followed went even quicker. Soon before we knew it, it was the last morning at Hogwarts for our 5th (and Tonks' 4th) year.

"So what are you guys planning for over the summer?" Maddy asked.

"You mean a side from the wedding?" James asked back. We had all been given permission from our parents to attended Hunter and Isabelle's wedding, Mum had even offered to help pick out gifts for us to give, so she was taking us all shopping the weekend after we got home from Hogwarts.

"Well, Padfoot and I want to get some Quidditch practise in if you guys are up for it." James said, he and Sirius both played on the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and they were keen to keep their current positions.

"Sure, I bet us girls could give you a run for your money!" Maddy was also on the Gryffindor team and had been begging me to try out with her. I had yet to accept. She looked at me. Luckily, Sev came to my rescue.

"Well mum and I are moving into our new house." Sev had told the group that his mum and dad were getting a divorce, but he had yet to tell them why. Only I knew the truth, (well mum, dad and Lily did as well but…)

"When are you moving?" Frank asked.

"The week before the wedding. The current owners are moving to America and their new home won't be able to move into until July, so until then the Evan's said we could stay with them."

"So Rach, you'll have your boyfriend over for the summer?!" Maddy said with a glint in her eyes.

"Shut up! Eileen and Sev are sleeping in the guest room."  
>"Well, Dad's study." Lily added with a laugh.<p>

Our laughing was interrupted by the hooting of Owl's as they came flooding into the Great Hall. Each had an official looking letter on its leg; they dropped their post onto the laps of the fifth years.

"I believe that will be your Owl Results." Dumbledore chuckled. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

There was a flurry as the 5th years began to open their results and share them with their friends. We were no exception.

"Well what did everyone get?" Tonks asked.

"I got my O in Herbology!" Alice squealed. Frank had too, so had Lily and Sev. Me, James Sirius, Maddy and Remus had got our E's. In fact we all had gotten O's and E's in everything. Unsurprisingly Sev and I had gotten our O's in Potions and Defence against the Darks Arts, Lily and Maddy had their O's in Charms and Remus had his O in Astronomy.

"I bet Mum will want to celebrate our result when we get home Ray!" Lily said.

"We should all celebrate together!" Maddy exclaimed.

"How about after we buy Hunter and Isabelle's presents this weekend?" James asked. "I could check with Mum and Dad, but you could probably all come to my house for a party."

"That sounds great Prongs!" Sirius added. It was decided that James would check with him mum and dad, and Owl us about the party. After that we had little time left but to go grab our trunks and head to the train.

Mum, Dad and Eileen met us at Kings Cross when we had gotten off the train; we pilled mine, Lily and Sev's trunks onto the trolley and after saying a quick 'goodbye' to the others we headed through the barrier and towards the family car.

"Where's Petunia?" Lily asked.

"She wanted to wait at home." Mum explained. "She's gotten a lot better with your magical abilities since she has been talking to Eileen."

"Really?" I asked.

As it turned out living with Eileen for a few months had really done the world of good to Petunia. She was extremely apologetic as to how she had been towards our magical abilities; neither she, mum nor dad had any idea about the extent of my powers yet. I had begged Lily and the others to secrecy. James had sent back word that we were ok for the party, and after shopping all day (something which I dreaded) we all flooed into Potter Mansion for the party.

A few weeks after the party Sev and Eileen were ready to move in. Since Eileen didn't want anything to remind her of Tobias in hers and Sev's new home she had bought all new furniture which had arrived in grates at their home. The Maurders, mum and dad had all volunteered to help unpack and set things up. Eileen had had the ministry come and connect their new fireplace to the floo network once the old owners had moved out. And so that's how on a bright Thursday morning we all found ourselves outside the Prince's new home helping to unpack what little stuff Eileen and Sev had wanted to keep from our car.

Dad, James and Sirius all began to help unpack the kitchen and put all the worktops and items together, Eileen only trusted Dad to be able to set up her electrical stuff. Mum and Maddy volunteered to help in the living room with Alice and Tonks, Frank and Remus helped bring stuff in and lift the boxes, and Lily and I helped Sev take his stuff and Eileen's upstairs to their bedrooms, and helped wherever we could.

We worked all morning taking only a short break for lunch, to eat the picnic mum had made earlier that morning for us all, before heading back to work. We were finished by 5.

"Thank you so much for all your help kids." Eileen said to us. She handed us each £5, Lily and I had to explain how much that equalled in Magical money. James, Sirius, Maddy, Remus and Tonks all flooed home, and Alice's dad, came to pick up her and Frank in his car.

Since Eileen and Severus had only moved a few blocks down the street from where we lived, we walked home. When we got home Lily and I took Georgia out for a walk. Mum and Dad began to get dinner started, and when we returned we all sat down for dinner. I then showered and headed to bed to read. After falling asleep reading my latest book, I awoke at about 2 in the morning with a sharp pain in my left foot. It was almost like I had stubbed my toe, but I hadn't got out of bed. I thought nothing of it until I saw Severus the next morning. He was wincing slightly as he put his left foot on the floor. When I asked him what was wrong, he told me he'd stubbed it the night before on his bedstead after he'd been to the toilet. After getting a strange look from him, when I asked what time it was, he told it was about 2 that morning.

My brain went into over drive. Was there some strange connection between Sev and me, kinda like my telepathic skills with Lily? I tried to telepathically talk to Sev but he got nothing. So I asked him if he would help with an experiment. I picked up one of Eileen's knives which she used for mixing potions for her job at St Mungo's, and stepping out of the room, so Sev wouldn't know when I did it, I gave myself a small cut on my right hand palm. From outside Sev's room I heard him take a short gasp of breath. Opening the door I stared at him. He had his hand covering his right palm which I noticed now had a small cut. I held my hand up to him, he stared before letting go of his hand and showing me his identical cut.

"What is going on here?" I asked. Neither of us knew, we spent the rest of the day going through every textbook, potions book, spell book, every magical book we could lay our hands on. Nothing.

Later that week I awoke at around 3 in the morning to a pain in my back. The pain seemed to be a dull ache, almost as if it was an old bruise that had been knocked again. The pain however seemed to get worse, almost like it was being hit all over again, and again, and again. I knew that something was wrong instantly. Since Sev and I had discovered we could share things between each other, we had been trying different things out. We could feel a degree of each others pain and danger, and we also knew instantly if something was wrong with each other. I quickly slipped out of my bed and rushed to Lily's.

"Lil, Lil wake up!" I shook my sister hard until her eyes fluttered open and she looked at me.

"Rach?" Glancing at the clock she moaned. "It's 3am, go back to sleep."

"I can't something's wrong with Severus."

"What..." I had told Lily everything about the connection Sev and I had discovered we shared. I had also re-read over the prophecy about Potens, and I was now pretty sure that Sev had some of Fortis'es blood in him; this explained some of the connection between us.

"Listen I've got a pain in my back."

"So how does that mean that Sev's in trouble?"

"Because my back wasn't hurting this morning." Lily moaned and rolled over.

"Rach, you probably just slept funny."

"Fine, if you don't believe me, I'll do it myself!" I slipped my pj's off and pulled on my jeans and top.

"Do what?" That had got Lily's attention.

"I'm going over to Sev and Eileen's. Something is wrong."

"Are you insane?!"

"No, just curious. Listen stay awake, I'll contact you if I need you." I slipped out of my bedroom and walked quietly to the front door. Slipping my key from my pocket, I turned the latch and left the house.

I had made it half way down the street before Lily caught up with me.

"I'm not letting you go anywhere on your own; especially not this early in the morning."

"You sound just like mum." I smiled and we continued our walk to Sev's house.

The house was in darkness, except for a small light in one of the back rooms.

"Isn't that the kitchen?" Lily whispered to me.

"Yes, come on." We crept round the side of the house heading towards the light, only to find the window had been covered with something.

"Damm." By now Lily was starting to believe that there was something going on.

"Can you hear anything?" I whispered to my sister.

"_No but maybe we should talk in our heads so nobody can hear us." _

"_Good idea." _ There was a small gap in the panel covering the window. I pressed my eye up against the window, and what I saw took my breath away.

**And I'm going to leave it there. I know it's a bit of a cliff hanger but I have a great next chapter planned. Anyway I hope all of my readers had a great Christmas and I hope you all have a great 2013. So please read and review. **

**Beth ^_^**


	17. Chapter 16

**So this is the second part of my cliffhanger chapter, enjoy! ^_^ **

Chapter 16

Rachel's POV

"_What is it?!" _Lily was practically screaming in my head. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the window. Lying on the floor was Eileen. She had blood pouring from a cut on her arm, she had the beginnings of a black eye forming, and she was unconscious.

"_Rachel, if you don't answer me I swear I'll…"_

"_Calm down Lily! Look you need to go home and wake up mum and dad. Get them to call an ambulance." _

"_What about you?" _

"_I'm going in." _

"Oh no you are not!" Lily shouted. I slammed my hand over her mouth to stop her from letting the intruder know that we were outside.

"_Shut up!" _

"_Fine, but there is no way I'm going home and leaving you here!" _

"_I'll be fine; I'll only go in if I think Sev needs me." _Lily gave me her look.

"_Fine I won't go in at all until you get back. Happy?" _Lily smiled.

"I'll be back in 10 minutes. Wait here." And with that she pelted back down the street heading to our house.

I waited for 2 minutes before I slipped from the window I was looking in and headed towards the back door. I knew Eileen kept a key hidden underneath the plant pot by the back door.

"Just like a muggle." I chuckled to myself. Slipping through the door, I moved into the kitchen where I found Eileen. Pulling my wand from my back pocket, I ran a quick diagnostic spell over her to check if she had any broken bones. Luckily Professor McGonagall had taught it to me last year. After double checking that Eileen was ok apart from being unconscious, I used a spell that we had learnt in Defence in the Dark Arts to stop her cut from bleeding and I moved her from her current position so she was out of the way in case the intruder came back again.

I still had no idea where Sev was, and my back had started to throb again. All of a sudden I heard a crash upstairs and the sound of a body falling to the floor echoed from the ceiling. I pulled my wand from my pocket again and headed up the stairs, the door to the bathroom was slightly open and some of the bottles of shampoo and other stuff had been knocked to the floor. I moved along the hall pasted Eileen's room, and glanced in. The bed had been messed up deliberately, a picture of her and Sev had been thrown to the ground, my picture that she had stuck on her wall had been ripped into pieces, and most of her clothes had been pulled out of her wardrobe and scattered around the floor. However the room was also empty.

The next room was Sev's. The door was open only a fraction, but I saw a shadow walking. It was too tall to be Severus, so I pulled my wand closer to me and slipped to the door.

"You little brat, did you really think you could stay away from me?" I heard nothing more, both must had moved away from the door. I peaked my eye into the crack. Sev had been backed into the corner with a guy covering his escapes.

"What's wrong? Can't take being beaten by a kid?!" Sev snarled back. The man snarled again, and threw something in Sev's direction. He ducked which gave him enough time to move away from the corner. I saw Sev had his wand in his hand, and the guy who was trying to attack him had a belt.

'Is he a muggle?' I thought to myself. Quickly I scanned the area for Lily; luckily she must still have been at home convincing mum and dad to come to help. My mind was drawn back to the room. The guy advanced towards Sev, who was standing with his back to the door. He through his belt towards the door, I ducked. The belt hit the door just above my viewing point. I held my breath for a bit, hoping that he hadn't seen me. I guessed he hadn't spotted me, as he soon had Sev trapped again. He aimed his belt one way, and I noticed Sev getting ready to move. The guy noticed this too and quickly changed his aim to go the other way and hit Sev. Before I knew what had come over me, I pushed open the door and ran between the guy's belt and Sev.

Severus's POV

Before I could register what had happened, Rachel came bursting through the door. She gave a small cry of pain as the belt hit her back. I winced knowing all to well what pain she must be experiencing.

"Rachel what are you doing here?!" She spoke back through gritted teeth.

"I felt your pain. I thought you could use some help." I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She had blood seeping through her top from the cut on her back. She moaned. I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close.

"Who on earth are you?" He was speaking to Rach now.

"Leave her alone."

Rachel's POV

The guy took his gaze away from me and turned back to Sev.

"Now that's no way to talk to me Severus."

"Why not, you used to talk to me in the same way." He snapped back. I felt him tighten his arms around my waist. I winced slightly as his arm pushed against the cut on my back.

'Why is it that belts can hurt so much?' Sev must have noticed my discomfort and moved his arms. It was then that the guy noticed Sev had his arms around my waist. The guy couldn't help but change his expression.

"What is she to you then boy?" Sev's expression changed.

"Leave Rachel alone." The guy laughed.

"So you're calling her by her first name? What did you do to her?"

"Leave Sev alone."

"Rachel, don't, he's not going to listen, he never did." I looked confused. Sev must have noticed my reaction, he spoke with gritted teeth.

"Rach, this is Tobias, my dad."

Severus's POV

I saw Rachel's eyes widen.

"Your father?" Dad's eyes seemed to show his usual sarcastic smile.

"And what is she to you then boy; a passing bit of skirt?!" I saw red. Rachel must have felt my wand hand harden my grip, and slid her hand into mine and squeezed it. Dad's eyes glared again, and he clasped his hand tighter around his belt. I knew instantly what he was planning and without thinking pushed Rachel to the floor, and jumped to the other side as the belt hit the space Rachel once stood in. I heard Rachel groan in pain as she hit the floor, and to my horror dad completely blocked me out and headed towards Rachel with a menacing look in his eyes. Rachel scurried backwards trapping herself in the corner. I spotted her wand lying just out of her reach.

I knew if I didn't act quick Rachel would suffer a fate worse than anything I had suffered before.

"Leave Her Alone!" I screamed and rushed forward completely forgetting I had my wand in my hand. Dad turned instantly and pushed me back. I flew through the air and hit the wall behind me. I groaned. The first thing that had hit the wall had been my back, and with the pain I felt from Rachel's cut and my old existing wounds the pain was just about unbearable. Rachel must have felt it too as I noticed her tense and a tear fell from her eye. I knew just how much will power it was taking her not to scream in pain at this moment. The second part of my body to hit the wall was my head. I felt myself getting woozy, but I knew that if I blacked out now Rachel would be left to fend for herself. I know that with her powers she could knock dad out with a single flick of her hand if she wanted to, but Rachel isn't that kind of person. And also the pain she must be feeling doesn't help to make her think straight. I was just trying to get up when I saw a white light emerging from Rachel's direction, and then everything went black.

Rachel's POV 

The pain was almost unbearable. It was taking all the will power I could muster to not scream, and when Tobias threw Sev at the wall it didn't help much. I knew that I had to try to reach my wand, if only to protect myself against him. But Tobias must have noticed my moving and soon had me trapped in the corner again.

"I'm gonna teach you a lesson girl. Nobody stands in my way!" I saw him raise his belt again, the buckle glistening in the moon light flooding through the window. I knew that there was only one option; I had to get out of this without getting hurt anymore than I already was. I closed my eyes and let my magic flood over me.

Ignoring the new fresh pain from where the belt had hit my shoulder, I continued to dig deep pulling my full magical power to the surface, and before long I felt the familiar tug to open my eyes. As I did the white light erupted from my body pouring out of the tips of my fingers, and before I knew it I was floating off the floor. Tobias launched the belt at my floating figure, but the second he hit my body the light wrapped itself around the belt and pulled it out of his hand. Now he was weapon less as well as scared. I was pretty sure that neither Eileen nor Sev were able to do this kind of magic.

"Stop." I commanded in a voice that was a cross between my own and what I guess had been Potens. Tobias was instantly stopped in his tracks.

"You will never hurt these people again." Tobias looked petrified.

"I won't I swear."

"You will go outside this house and wait for the police to arrive. Then they will arrest you and you will plead guilty, do you understand me?"

"Yes, yes I understand." Tobias said very quickly. He rushed from the room and I heard the front door being opened.

I felt the magic leaving my body and the floating beginning to stop. As soon as my feet touched the floor I staggered over to Sev and collapsed next to him. He had completely blacked out, so I guessed he hadn't seen my little charade with his father.

"_Rachel! Where are you? The police have the intruder and the ambulance is here." _Lily's voice echoed in my mind. I felt a strange warmth on my left wrist as I tried to reply.

"_Sev's room" _was all I managed to muster before I too blacked out.

**And there we have it, the second and concluding part to my cliffhanger. This has been my favourite chapter to write so far. I have also been thinking about this story lately, the next chapter will of course be Rachel and Sev waking up in hospital and Hunter and Isabelle's wedding, but I have also been thinking about the ending of my story. Don't panic I still have (including the next chapter) about 6 chapters planned out, and there will be further chapters after that to end the story, but this story will try to be finished after the Easter Holidays. I do have a sequel planned for 'Sisters of Magic' but I can't reveal any plans for that until I finish 'Sisters of Magic'. So for now, continue reading my story, and I will be updating soon I promise. **

**As always read and review, and happy reading! **

**Beth ^_^**


	18. Chapter 17

**Hi, so I would like to say thank you to everyone who reviewed my last chapter, I have also been thinking about my idea for a sequel and I have decided that I might just stick it in with this story and make it a long story. I'll have a think and see what fits best and then let you know. Anyway enough from me enjoy the chapter. **

Chapter 17

Rachel's POV

I awoke to a beeping noise and a bright white light. It was so bright that for a second I thought I was in Heaven. That was until I heard my mum's voice.

"Rachel, sweetheart? Please wake up, for mummy." My eyes flicked slowly open and I caught the sight of my mother's eyes staring at me.

"Rachel?"

"Mum?"

"Oh sweetheart!" Mum engulfed me in a huge hug and I saw the tears in her eyes, then she snapped.

"What the hell we're you thinking Rachel Grace Evans! You could have been killed!"

"Mum…"

"Don't you mum me Missie, you had us all so worried. When Lily told us she couldn't reach you… well we all panicked!" I moved my head and noticed that dad and Lily were rushing into the room, dad carrying two cups of coffee, Lily carrying one of my many books.

"Rachel!" Lily dropped the book and rushed over hugging me just as hard as mum had.

I managed to gather enough breath to be able to ask Lily a question.

"How long have I been out?"

"2 days. Rachel we've been so worried about you."

"How bad was I?" Mum, dad and Lily looked at each other.

"What?"

"Apart from the cut on back, sweetie; nothing was wrong with you."

"Well you had a pretty big bruise on the back of your head where you got knocked out." Lily added.

"How's Severus?"

"He's ok, bit bruised and battered but he's ok, Eileen too. He's been asking to see you. Eileen woke up about an hour after she got to the hospital, Severus about 3 hours later."

"So why was I out for so long?"

"I think I can explain that." A voice came from the door way, it was Professor McGonagall.

McGonagall's POV

The Evans family turned their heads and stared at me. I knew that it was because of what I was wearing. I knew that if I turned up at the hospital dressed in normal wizard clothing, the Muggles would think I had just come from a fancy dress party. So I had changed into jeans and a jumper and headed to see Rachel.

"Professor?"

I quickly cast a silencing spell over the room, and closed the door.

"What is doing on Professor McGonagall?"

"Rachel I believe that I should speak to you alone about this."

Mr Evans spoke before Rachel could answer.

"Oh no, we almost lost a daughter and the girls almost lost their sister, what ever is going on you will tell all of us." I paused for a moment looking at Rachel. It was obvious that she hadn't told her parents about just how strong her magic was, so I knew I had to play it down a bit.

"Alright then; Rachel I believe that due to your magical ability your body healed itself."

"I healed myself?"

"Yes, it is rare for a muggle born to possess this type of powers, but not unheard off."

"So, what does that mean?" Mrs Evans asked.

"All it means is that Rachel possesses some stronger powers than other witches and wizards. All it means is that Rachel more gifted in some areas than she is in others. So is Lily. So is every witch and wizard in the world."

"So Rachel's a healer?" Lily asked.

"Not necessarily Lily. It could mean that Rachel will one day want to study as a healer and have a natural talent for it, or it could just mean that Rachel's body is able to withstand more due to her natural magic."

"I think I understand." Rachel spoke slowly.

"So there isn't anything wrong with her, is there?" Mrs Evans asked.

"My goodness no! Well as far as I can tell there is nothing wrong with you Rachel, I could ask Madam Pomfrey to come and see you and check that there is nothing wrong with your magic ability. Being as she is a healer I believe she would be able to check your magic better than I could."

"Would she mind?" Mr Evans asked. I was sure it was just to put all their minds at rest.

"Of course not. I should be getting back to Hogwarts now anyway, I will ask Poppy to send you an owl and arrange a day she can come and visit you Rachel."

"Thank you Professor."

"It was my pleasure my dear, and if you need anything or have any questions about your summer work you can owl me." I placed an emphasis on the 'summer work' so Rachel would understand what I had been talking about. She seemed to understand as she nodded. Lily seemed to understand to as she looked at Rachel with a glance of concern.

"I though you said you didn't have any homework over the summer Rachel?" Mrs Evans asked.

"Oh it's just some reading for next year that I asked for mum."

"Your daughter is already preparing for her next set of exams; I wouldn't be surprised if she got one of the highest grades in the history of the school at the end of her seventh year." The family laughed.

"That's our Rachel, always got her nose in a book." Mr Evans spoke with a laugh.

Just as I was turning to leave I sensed a powerful magic presence in the room with us. I could tell that it wasn't a person, so that ruled out Albus checking up on Rachel. It was then I noticed the bandage around her left wrist.

"What did you do to your wrist my dear?" Rachel glanced at her wrist. Her mother answered for her.

"The doctors put around her wrist as a precaution. When they x-rayed her they found a small fracture on her wrist bone. It wasn't badly damaged but it was to be safe."

"Oh, well get better soon my dear." I left the room and headed to the alleyway around the corner from the hospital where I had apperated into earlier. Something was bothering me about Rachel's wrist and the magic presence I had felt. I felt a long talk with Albus appearing on the horizon.

Rachel's POV

Things quietened down after Professor McGonagall left. I made a mental note to myself to ask her to send me to some books I could read over the summer to keep up the pretence about my revising early for the exams, mum and dad seemed to feel a lot better knowing that there was nothing wrong with me, but something still seemed up with Lily. I know she was mad with me for going into the house when I had told her I wouldn't, but I knew that Sev needed me. I know she would have done the same for James. A little while later the visiting hours we're up and mum, dad and Lily had to leave, promising to visit in the morning with my iPod, books and food, mum's homemade chicken soup, yum! The hospital did a nice dinner for us, but I just really wanted to go home and be snuggled up in my bed cuddling up with my iPod and a book.

About 6 o'clock I decided to try to get some sleep, after all I had nothing else to do; the doctors had come round before to ask if I needed anymore painkillers for my back. I asked them how bad it was and they told me that they had taken a photo to help with the police case against Tobias and got it for me. I had a long scar running down the whole of my back; it was red and looked sore. I was glad for the medication so I couldn't feel it. The nurse said that it looked worse than it would be and I would probably end up with a scar down my back that wouldn't be noticeable unless someone was looking for it. It would be able to be seen if I was wearing a low backed top or a bikini but other than that it would be covered by my tops. I knew that it would be as bad as some of the scars Sev had from the years of abuse at Tobias'es hands, but I had a feeling he would want to do some serious damage to his father when he found out what it looked like. Speaking of Sev I asked the nurses how he was doing. They said he had been driving them crazy. When he had been told that I hadn't woken up yet (on the first night I was in hospital) he tried to climb out of the bed to find me. The doctors had had to get Eileen to calm him down, and Lily had gone in to see him a little later to tell him how I was doing. I would need to ask Lily if the others had been in touch asking about how we were. No doubt they would want to visit soon, or when I got home.

I was awaked at around 8 to a voice in my ear.

"Rach, please wake up. I just need to know your ok." I guessed that he hadn't been told I had woken up during the day.

"Sev, do you mind I am trying to sleep!" I opened my eyes to see the familiar face of my boyfriend looking at me with a huge smile on his face.

"Nice to know that you haven't lost your sense of humour." He smiled and kissed me.

"Hi."

"Hi, when did you wake up?"

"This afternoon, mum was talking to me and I kinda woke up. Then she had a right go at me."

"Mum said the same to me, said that I should told you to get out."

"Doesn't your mum know that I wouldn't have left even if you'd told me to?"  
>"I did tell her that!" We laughed.<p>

"She says thank you, by the way for saving her. She'll come and visit when she can. We've been leaving it for a bit so your parents could see you."

"Has Lily been to see you?"

"Yeah twice. The first time she helped mum to stop me from coming to see you, then the last time she had a go at me for not telling you to leave. She was really worried about you Rachel."

"I know. I promised her I wouldn't go inside that night, at least not until she got back and then we would maybe go in together. But I couldn't just stand outside while you were in there getting hurt."

"Well thanks for caring about me that much, but still Rachel you could have been seriously hurt. Did the doctors tell you how badly you were hurt, no-one would tell me and Lily was too hysterical or angry to tell me anything."

"I'm fine." I saw the look in his eyes. "Honestly. The doctors told me that I will be a bit sore for the next few days, and my back will ache for the next few months so I'm gonna get some cream and painkillers. Well at least Maddy can't get me trying out for Quidditch now!" We both laughed.

"What actually happened to your back? I know dad got you with his belt and I saw the blood but…" I put my finger over his lips to stop his rambling.

"I've got a scar on my back, and it might be sore for a bit but other than that I'm fine. The doctors said because I'm young my body will heal itself over the years and I shouldn't be left with any permanent damage." I kissed him to stop him from talking again.

About 3 weeks later Lily and I were standing in Sev's living room waiting for Maddy, Tonks and Alice to arrive and then the 5 of us would floo to Hunter's and meet the others there. Remus was coming from his house, James and Sirius from James and Frank from his. Mum had helped us pick out what to wear for the wedding. Lily had a pink halter neck dress with a flowing skirt, Maddy was wearing a blue dress with a dark blue sash around the waist and Alice had a dark brown dress with a black sash around her waist and Tonks was wearing a bright short pink dress with a flower on the shoulder. Mum knew that there was no way she was going to get me into a dress, and since my back was still healing I didn't want to wear anything that could show my scar. I wasn't ready to show the world yet. So we managed to find a set of grey trousers and jacket which I combined with my school blouse. Sev looked quite smart in his suit, he (like me) still had a few cuts and bruises over his body, the doctors had bandaged his wrist, likely it wasn't his wand hand, after he fell on it during the fight with Tobias and sprained it badly. Soon after Maddy and Alice arrived together, courtesy of Maddy's dad dropping them off since neither of them had a fireplace connected to the floo network yet, we all flooed to Hunter's.

"Hi guys." Hunter and Isabelle were waiting to greet us. After lots of hugs and chatting over the top of one another, the girls and I disappeared with Isabelle to get her ready and the boys went off with Hunter. Up in the spare room which had been set out for Isabelle to get ready in, the girls and I were talking a mile a minute about life at Hogwarts after Hunter and Isabelle had left, their life after Hogwarts and plans for the future.

"Hello earth to Rachel?" Isabelle asked.

"Hun, sorry must have drifted off. What were we talking about?"

"Isabelle was telling us how Hunter proposed." Lily said almost snapping at me. Ever since I had come home from the hospital 2 days after I woke up, Lily had hardly said anything to me, and when she did she snapped it. It felt weird to be on non-speaking terms with my twin. Lily and I had shared everything since we were little, and to loose her, it felt like I had lost part of myself. On the plus side, since I had come home Petunia and I had been getting on much better. She had even given up a night out with her boyfriend to stay home with me and watch a film. She had even put up with watching 'Labyrinth' with me! She and Vernon were still together, and he had even started to get along better with me and Lily. Petunia had told him about her magical sisters and surprisingly he hadn't run off screaming! Maddy, Alice, Tonks and Isabelle looked between me and Lily.

"Am I missing something here?" Isabelle asked. Maddy looked at Tonks, Tonks looked at Alice, Alice looked at me, and I looked at Lily. None of us had told Hunter or Isabelle about mine and Sev's fight, and luckily my bandage on my wrist was being covered by the sleeves of my jacket.

"Did something happen, is everyone ok?" Maddy butted in quick.

"Everything's fine, why would something be wrong?" That made Isabelle frown.

"Ok now I know something is wrong. Did someone get hurt?" The girls looked at me.

"Why don't you tell her Rachel?" Lily said smugly. Isabelle frowned again, she knew how close Lily and I were and to see us fighting was something she wasn't used to.

"It was nothing." I said quickly trying to get off the subject.

"Really?" Isabelle said.

"Sure, just a little accident." I said running my hand through my hair, not realising till the last second that it was my bad wrist. I winced.

"Accident my foot." Isabelle said and grabbed my arm and pulled up my sleeve. She gasped when she saw the bandage wrapped tightly around my wrist.

"What about your back?" Lily added.

"Your back?" Isabelle said. "What happened to your back?"

"It's nothing." I said through gritted teeth, giving Lily a glare.

"Getting attacked by your boyfriend's father, and having him hit you with his belt isn't nothing Rachel." Lily said and she ran out of the room. Maddy and Alice followed her with a look to me. I turned to Tonks and noticed that her hair had gone from her normal bubblegum pink, to a mousey brown which I knew she only did when she was scared or worried. Isabelle turned to Tonks.

"Tonks, would you mind leaving me and Rachel for a minute?" She looked at me, I nodded.

"I'll… erm go and see how the boys are doing." She said and left.

Isabelle turned to me.

"Don't give me that look; I've had enough of that from Lily and my mother!" I turned my back to Isabelle and gazed out the window. As I did I noticed my picture hanging on the wall.

"Rachel," Isabelle said turning me to face her, it was only then I noticed she was already dressed in her wedding dress. It was a slim fitting white dress with a long skirt falling to her ankles. The top of the dress had a halter neck which held it up and there was a cream ribbon around her waist. Her hair was done up in a bun on the top of her head and she had a diamond teardrop necklace around her neck. She looked beautiful.

"I just want to know that you're ok." She had a sincere look in her eyes and I knew that I could lie to her.

"I'm fine honestly. A little sore here and there and my wrist hurts when I put too much pressure on it, but the doctors said I'll be fine by September."

"What about your back?" I sighed.

"You promise this won't go any further than us?" I said. Isabelle turned without a word and picked up her wand which was lying on her dresser. She gave it a flick and without a sound the door closed and locked and she placed a silencing spell over the room. I pulled my jacket off my shoulders and slowly turned around. Breathing in, I un-did the buttons on the front of my top and pulled it off my shoulders revealing my back to Isabelle. I heard her gasp. I knew that my back had healed slightly since the nurse had shown me the picture in the hospital, but I could still feel that it was sore and undoubtedly it would be red. The doctors had told me that I wouldn't need to have it wrapped up in a bandage due to the cream I would be putting on it, and so mum helped me rub in the cream every morning when I woke up, and every night before I went to bed. I often now slept on my front so that I wouldn't be laying on it.

"That looks…" Isabelle couldn't finish her sentence. I pulled my top back on and did up my buttons before turning to face Isabelle again.

"It goes no further, not even Hunter can know." Isabelle nodded her head in a promise. I could see she had tears in her eyes and so wordlessly I passed her a tissue from the box on her dresser.

"How could someone do that?" Isabelle asked me as we sat together on the bed.

"It wasn't meant for me." Isabelle looked confused. "It was meant for Severus." I knew that I would need to explain the full circumstances to Isabelle.

"Sev's dad used to beat him and his mother continuously. Sev got a letter from his mum before we started our exams this year saying that she was filing for divorce and that she had kicked his dad out. We all helped her and Sev move into their new place a month ago, and it was that night that Sev, Eileen and I were attacked. His dad came back and knocked Eileen unconscious before turning on Sev. He had him cornered and was going to hit him with his belt when I leapt in between them and he caught my back with his belt instead." Isabelle sat open mouthed staring at me, before we heard a knock on the door. It was Isabelle's mother.

"Are you ready in there dear, we are waiting for you downstairs?" We both glanced at the clock and realised that we had been talking for over an hour.

"Just a minute mum!" Isabelle called out and quickly leapt of the bed and ran to her dresser quickly touching up her make-up. I helped her to place her veil on her head and as Isabelle slipped into her shoes I reached for her bouquet, and passed it to her. She nodded to me and I used my wand to take the spell off the locked door and opened it to reveal Isabelle's mum waiting for us.

"Are you ready dear?" Isabelle nodded. I hugged her and ran on a head slipping my jacket back on to cover my bandaged wrist. I reached the main living room and took my seat next to Sev and Remus just in time as Isabelle and her father soon followed me in.

I had to admit Hunter and Isabelle looked very beautiful together and I was grateful they invited me to their wedding. They had been married in a church the day before and they would be leaving for their honeymoon tomorrow afternoon. The binding ceremony was a little like a muggle wedding I realised. Hunter and Isabelle pledged to love each other forever and the wizard conducting the ceremony used his wand to create ribbons which binded Hunter and Isabelle's hands together. They disappeared shortly after the wizard told them they were now husband and wife. As the couple kissed we all cheered and followed the couple out of the room to begin dinner.

We all didn't get back until after midnight. Eileen had waited up for us as we were all staying over a Sev's that night as we knew that we wouldn't get back until late. Eileen allowed me to use her telephone to call home and let mum, dad and Petunia know we were at Sev's. The boys were going to be camping out in Sev's room and we would be in the spare room which Eileen used as a study. She and dad had moved some of the stuff out and into her bedroom for the night, and after saying 'good night' to us, she headed to bed. The boys all said 'good night' and headed to Sev's bedroom to change, as they had dropped off a change of clothes the day before, and we all headed to the study for bed. Alice and Maddy were out as soon as their heads hit the pillows. Tonks and Lily soon followed and that just left me laying awake in the dark. I sat awake for about 15 minutes before I heard Lily stir in the bed next to me. Using my wand I lit up the room and found that Lily had woken and was looking at me.

"Hi." I whispered.

"Hey." She whispered back.

We lay there in silence for about 3 minutes before I couldn't stand it anymore and turned to face my twin.

"Lily?" She turned to face me.

"What Rachel?"  
>"I'm sorry for going in by myself. I know I said I would wait for you and I did mean it, but I just felt that Severus needed me and I couldn't just wait outside whilst Sev was getting hurt." My voice had risen to a loud whisper whilst talking. Lily just sighed.<p>

"I don't blame you Rachel, hell I don't even blame Tobias." I looked confused. Lily sighed again.

"I blame myself." I was shocked.

"What? Why?"

"Because you're my twin and we promised we would always look out for each other remember?" I couldn't help but smile as I remembered the promise we had made to each other when we were 3. Lily had always promised to be a good big sister and look out for me, and I promised to be a good little sister and always be there for her.

"I broke the promise." Lily said with a whisper. I saw the tears in her eyes. I rolled over in my bed and reached out for Lily. She reached out as well and we met in a huge hug. Lily had by now begun to cry and I felt myself welling up and the tears falling down my eyes. After a while we split and lay there smiling at each other.

"I missed you big twin." I said with a laugh.

"Me too baby twin." Lily replied.

A few days after the wedding Madam Pomfrey arrived to check over my magic after the attack. I had written to her and McGonagall telling them everything I could remember about that night, and they had both agreed that I should be checked just to be on the safe side. Professor McGonagall wrote to me saying that she would be changing the concept of our lessons next year, to help me to be able to fully control my developing powers. I smiled at her letter and decided to start working on a picture for her to say thank you. Madam Pomfrey arrived in our living room, having finally got our fire-place connected to the floo network, at around 2 on a Wednesday afternoon. She was greeted with a cup of tea from mum and a smile from the rest of us. After drinking her tea Madam Pomfrey and I walked to my bedroom so we could talk in private. I told her again everything I could remember about the night of the attack and how I felt magically since. She gave me a once over and told me that I was fine. It was then that I asked her my burning question. My bandage had been off for about a week and I had been hiding my wrist under a glamour charm since. It wasn't that I had any cuts or anything, but something had appeared and I wasn't sure what to do. Sev had confided in me that he had found the same mark on his wrist too, and we had agreed to keep them hidden until we could ask someone what they meant. Madam Pomfrey seemed like a good person to ask.

"Madam Pomfrey, do you have any idea what this is?" I asked holding out my wrist. She had a quick look before saying,  
>"There's nothing there my dear." I looked down realising that I had forgotten to take the charm off.<p>

"Oh, sorry I forgot to take the charm off, here." I took off the charm and showed her my wrist again. Her eyes almost popped out of her head.

"When did this appear?!" Her voice had risen by about 3 levels.

"We think they appeared the night of the attack."  
>"We?!"<p>

"Me and Severus, he's got one too, in the exact same place."

"I need to see him now." She got off my bed and headed for the door before turning to see me again.

"Are you free now to come to Hogwarts, I need Albus and Minerva to see this." I nodded wondering just how serious this was.

We raced downstairs to find Mum and Lily sitting in the kitchen baking fairy cakes.

"What's the rush?" They both asked.

"Oh nothing." Madam Pomfrey covered herself. "I just need to take Rachel and Severus back to Hogwarts for a bit, Albus I mean Headmaster Dumbledore wanted a word with them about the attack." Mum looked worried.

"It's nothing bad honestly. He just needs them to sign some papers for the ministry." Mum looked better and after looking at me, we headed for the floo and flooed to Sev's.

I quickly explained quickly to Sev what was going on and since his mum was out he left her a note, and the three of us flooed to Dumbledore's office from Sev's house.

We landed with a thud in the headmaster's office to find Dumbledore and McGonagall engaged in a battle of chess. They looked surprised to see us all tumble out of the floo.

"Poppy, why on earth have you bough Rachel and Severus here? Did you find something wrong?" McGonagall said panicking.

"Not wrong, just odd." Madam Pomfrey said getting up and wiping the dust off her dress. McGonagall and Dumbledore looked confused. She turned to me and Sev.

"Take the glamour charms off of both your wrists and show them what you showed me." She instructed. Sev and I looked at each other before taking the charms off our wrists and holding them out for the three adults to see. McGonagall gasped, Dumbledore smiled.

"Well I never! And a Gryffindor and a Slytherin too. This is a surprise." Sev and I were confused.

"What do you mean professor?" Sev asked. "What are these things?" He gestured to our wrists. McGonagall had gathered her breath back enough to be able to explain.

"They are called Soul Marks, and they are extremely powerful magic, and also extremely rare."

**And there we have chapter 17. I can honestly say that I didn't think anyone would still be reading my story at this point, but thank you for sticking with me. So what are these soul marks and what do they mean for Severus and Rachel? Dun dun dun! Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter and I will try to update again soon. For those of you who are curious, I have placed links to the girls dressed at the end of the chapter (just keep scrolling down!). **

**So as normal please read and review and I hope to hear from you soon!**

**Happy reading, **

**Beth ^_^**

Lily's Dress -

Maddy's Dress - .

Alice's Dress - .

Tonks's Dress - /Wedding_Dresses_Gallery/wedding_guest_

Rachel's Suit - .


	19. Chapter 18

**Hi guys, *cowering behind my computer*. I am really sorry that it has taken me so long to post. Since this is my last year of school I have been really busy with exams and revision, plus trying to find a job for next year is not easy, since I'm not going to uni or college I need something to do, although sitting at home writing would be fun, I need something that pays! Anyway enjoy my very belated chapter, and please don't be to mad with me, I'll give you cookies?**

Chapter 18

Severus's POV

I looked at Rachel whose face held the same confused look as mine.

"I've never heard of a Soul Mark? And what does Rachel being in Gryffindor and me in Slytherin have to do with anything?" Dumbledore looked at McGonagall, who looked at Poppy, who looked at us. McGonagall explained.

"A Soul Mark is an extremely powerful piece of magic from the old times, around the time of Potens I would guess. It is said that when two people willingly come together to risk their lives for one another, the pure love they share will cause these marks to appear on their bodies to help prove their love, and to show devotion to each other." Rachel looked down at her mark, I looked at mine. We turned back to Professor McGonagall.

"So what does this mean?" Rachel asked. Dumbledore laughed.

"It doesn't mean anything has to change my dear. You are in no danger of anything happening to you because of these marks." Poppy added in.

"In fact you are, as far as I am aware, the only two people to have a love so strong that you are able to conjure these marks, since Potens herself." Rachel's eyes popped.

"Potens had a Soul Mark?!"

"Yes." McGonagall added. "But nobody was ever able to prove who it was she loved, there were rumours speculating it was her warrior, Fortes, but nothing was ever proven. Tell me exactly when these marks appeared."

Rachel's POV

"I guess it was when Rachel and I were fighting my dad." Severus added with repulsion at the word 'dad'. I grabbed his hand in mine and pulled myself closer to him. Severus wrapped his fingers around mine.

"How sweet." Poppy said noticing our hands. I smiled.

"Professor?" I started. "Why does the fact that I'm in Gryffindor and Sev's in Slytherin make any difference? I mean I get the whole house rivalry thing, but surly love doesn't matter about the houses and neither should anyone else." Dumbledore smiled.

"You are right there, Miss Evans, however the house rivalry stems back to the house founders, Godric Gryffindor and Salazar Slytherin. Since then its students have taken on the house rivalry, but the other members of staff and I am proud of your relationship with Severus, and the fact that you seem to have completely ignored the rivalry!" I blushed, Sev squeezed my hand.

"Professor?" Severus asked. "What are we going to do about these?" Sev gestured to his Soul Mark and I was able to get a good glance at it. I understood what Dumbledore meant now about how the houses we had been placed in were influencing our Soul Marks. Both marks were of the yin and yang symbol from Chinese mythology, except they had been taken apart from the full circle to which they were normally part of. Sev had one half on his wrist, I had the other. Sev's was coloured green, whilst mine was red, and both had black swirls coming from the tail, to which seemed to join together if we placed our hands next to each other.

"Well I do believe that you should continue to hide them from your fellow students for now, but have you told your sister and fellow friends?"

"Not yet, should we tell them? It's easy to keep them hidden under glamour charms." Severus said.

"Lily will kill me if I keep another secret from her." Dumbledore looked at his fellow staff members. McGonagall spoke first.

"The thing is with old magic, it often needs to be kept secret." Dumbledore cut her off.

"But I can't see the harm in telling your sister about this Rachel; however I do believe that the others should be kept in the dark about this development for now." Dumbledore turned to McGonagall.

"Could you return to the Evans house and pick up Lily please? I do believe that we should explain everything to her." McGonagall nodded and slipped into the floo.

She soon returned with Lily, who looked worried.

"What's going on? Your lucky mum went out or she would be having kittens by now!" Rachel smiled. McGonagall looked confused, a look she shared with Poppy. Dumbledore laughed at his deputy and mediwitches confused expressions.

"Oh come now Minnie, you are a cat at heart after all, you should know about Muggle sayings." McGonagall winced at Dumbledore's continued use of the nickname Minnie. Poppy, Severus, Rachel and Lily all hid a chuckle each.

"Miss Evans, I do believe that your sister and her boyfriend have something to tell you."

"Oh my god you're not pregnant are you?" Severus burst out laughing. I however slapped my sister on the back of her head.

"Ouch! I'll take that as a no then." Lily said rubbing the back of her head. "You don't have to Gibbs slap me you know."

"Lily we're 15, that's just all kinds of… NO!" I said unable to find the words to express my frustration.

"Well what is it then?" Lily asked.

Nobody's POV

After a lengthy explanation, Lily seemed to have grasped the concept of Soul Marks, enough to understand that she couldn't tell another person and the reason why Severus and Rachel would be keeping them hidden for the foreseeable future. Once they had finished talking to their Professors, Severus flooed home and as soon as he had left Rachel and Lily flooed home together. Luckily their mother was still out, their dad was at work and Petunia had gone out with Vernon after she had finished working her shift at the local corner shop. This meant that the two girls had the house to themselves for a while.

They decided to fix themselves some lunch and would spend the rest of the day together like they used to do as children. After microwaving some jacket potatoes and grating a bit of cheese, the two sisters were sitting on their respective beds eating and chatting like old times.

"So who do you think Potens soul marked mate was?"

"How should I know?" Rachel asked.

"Well you are her, or she is you, or… whatever you know what I mean." Lily said getting flustered. Rachel smiled.

"I think it might have been Fortes, but as Dumbledore said nobody knows. It could have been one of the soldiers fighting against magic for all we know." Lily suddenly laughed.

"Whats so funny?" Rachel enquired.

"Could you imagine if it was the General she was in love with? I mean if Sev is Fortes then the General would be like He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named!" Rachel gasped and launched herself at her sister. She was lucky that they had both finished eating.

"That is not funny!" Rachel said hitting her sister with a pillow. Lily squealed and grabbed another pillow in retaliation. Soon this had developed into an all out pillow fight between the twins, filled with laughter, thumps and squeals of delight.

After a good 10 minutes of fighting, both sister formed a truce and decided to watch a DVD. They collected their plates and a copy of 'Stardust' descended into their living room where they turned on the TV an soon were enjoying the film. Infact they enjoyed it so much that that was where their mother found them about half an hour later when she returned, fast asleep next to each other, tired out by the events of the last few weeks.

It wasn't until a week before their return to Hogwarts that the Maurders were able to see each other again. Sure they had seen each other since the Evans sisters meeting with Dumbledore, McGonagall and Poppy, but this was the first time they would be all together as a group since they had all come to visit Rachel after she got out of hospital. They had decided to try introducing James, Sirius, Alice and Frank to Muggle movies. Lily, Rachel, Remus, Maddy and Severus had been dying to see the new 'Avengers Assemble' film so they dragged their friends to the cinema with them on the promise of fast food from of MacDonald's afterwards, (even Wizards and Witches loved MacDonald's). And so it was around half past 6 on a Wednesday afternoon that the group were sitting in MacDonald's discussing their next year at Hogwarts along with the movie they had just seen.

"I mean how can Muggles make that, yet they can't make pictures move?!" Sirius questioned for what seemed the millionth time. Maddy groaned and punched her boyfriends arm. Sirius mocked a painful expression and Maddy hit him again, along with Lily who was sitting on his other side.

"Hey Prongs, tell you girlfriend to stop hitting me." James just laughed.

"Padfoot, Lily does what she wants to do." James wrapped his arm around Lily shoulders and she snuggled into him. Sirius scowled playfully at his best friend and wrapped his arm around Maddy in retaliation. The others laughed at the couples attempts to outdo each other.

"So has everyone got all their books for next year?" Alice asked.

"Yep, got them all on Monday." James said.

"Me too." Sirius agreed. Since Sirius had been kicked out of his parents house he had been living with the Potters, and that had been for a good few years now.

"What time are we going home?" Remus asked.

"Honestly spoil sport!" Tonks said.

"That's not what I meant!" Remus exclaimed. "It's just I'm pretty sure that James and Sirius have homework left to do." James and Sirius looked sheepish. The group laughed.

"I'll take that as a yes then." Frank laughed.

Rachel smiled to herself. Although her friends were completely insane, she wouldn't change them for anything.

"What you thinking of Ice?" James said noticing Rachel's far away expression.

"Oh nothing, just thinking about how lucky I am to have such crazy mates." The group groaned and all laughed, causing the other customers to smile at the happy group of teenagers.

**And there we go. I'm sorry again at how long this has taken to post, but life has taken over once again. So this is another chapter done and dusted, and I will give anyone a cookie if they can name the reference that I have included in this chapter. It is pretty obvious so I am guessing that it will be discovered by a few people, (heres hoping) ^_^**

**Anyway happy reading,**

**Beth**


	20. Chapter 19

**Wow, three chapters in one night, how good is that! This is kinda more of a filler chapter, but I hope it will kinda be a bit of fun. This is set during the 7****th**** year of the group, and Tonks 6****th**** year.**

Chapter 19

No One's POV

Rachel stood in our room gazing at Lily as we finished helping her get ready for the party. Slughorn had invited all of us to his Slugclub Halloween party, and we were all helping Lily to finished getting her costume ready. Maddy, Alice and Tonks had already got their costumes ready.

Tonks deciding to go as Little Red Riding Hood, to Remus's ironic werewolf costume, and had transfigured her winter cloak into her signature red cloak, used her metamorphmagus skills to change her hair to make it long and brown, and the girls had talked her into wearing a red corset topped dress, with a brown skirt and a white apron and flat black shoes. Remus had used some of his own torn clothes and with a little help from Severus and Lily, he had made his hair grow longer and messed it up and transfigured his teeth to be long, sharp and pointed.

Maddy had chosen to attend the party as Wednesday Addams from the Addams family, and had transfigured one of her muggle dresses into a long grey dress with a white collar, had a black belt around her waist, and platform black boots along with plaited black hair.

Alice and Frank had teamed up to go as Robin Hood and Maid Marian from Muggle stories. Alice and Rachel had managed to transfigure her a long sleeved turquoise dress with a blue belt around her waist. The top of her dress was set as a corset with a gold trimmed square collar. She wore a gold band around her head with a pink veil attached to it falling down her back. Frank's costume was by far the most comical of the groups, as he wore a green tunic with a brown belt around the waist, a green pointed hat on his head with a red feather sticking out of the top, and a pair of green tights and flat brown shoes. Hagrid had even managed to find him a bow amongst his positions.

Severus had decided to go as Dracula. He had transfigured his school robes into longer and darker black suit type robes, with a tail cut at the back. He had also managed to transfigure his teeth into pointer and sharper fangs.

James and Sirius had decided to go as the dynamic duo, of Batman and Robin. James of course choosing to dress as batman, complete with utility belt and a mask, and Sirius as Robin complete with a bright red cape and bright coloured tights.

Rachel and Lily had decided to go as the two main witches from the Wizard of Oz. Lily was going as Glinda the Good Witch of the South, and Rachel was Theodora the Wicked Witch of the West. Lily's dress was pure white colour with a golden corset top; she had changed her hair to be bright blonde and had a white cloak and golden crown to complete her outfit. Rachel had been persuaded to wear a knee length black dress with a torn and cut skirt and black corset long sleeved top. She had a black ribbon tied around her neck and pointed flat boots on her feet, and a pointed witches hat on her head. She had even managed to borrow James's old Quidditch broom, and transfigured her skin green.

"This is brilliant!" Tonks exclaimed spinning around in her dress. Lily stood fixing up her make up in the mirror, before Maddy pulled her away.

"Lily, you look fine." She said, as she pulled her away. "Come on the boys are waiting for us, and your mum wanted pictures." Rachel laughed and pulled out her camera and snapped a few of the other girls, before Tonks snatched it off her and snapped a few of the sisters together. Lily and Rachel laughed before taking out their wands in a mock duel pose which got the whole group laughing. The girls quickly fled their room and into the common room, where the boys were waiting and so were a few other younger students, who wanted to see what they would be wearing to the party.

"Wow." James said as he took sight of his girlfriend. "You look gorgeous." He said giving her a kiss on the top of her head. "Although I prefer you as a red head." He whispered to her causing Lily to chuckle.

"You both look ridiculous." Maddy said laughing at her boyfriend and James, as they posed and Rachel snapped a few pictures.

"Holy smokes Batman, our girls look really hot." Sirius joked as Maddy laughed and kissed him. James pulled Lily close, as Rachel snapped a few of Frank and Alice, Remus and Tonks before Alice took the camera off her and snapped a few of Severus and Rachel. Severus pulled a few poses of him trying to bite Rachel's neck and her hitting him with her broom.

"Come on then I wanna get to the party." James said going to pick Lily up.

"Don't even think about it!" She told him sternly. Alice passed the camera onto one of the younger students who took a couple of pictures of the whole group before they headed out to the party.

Later that evening the party was in full swing. Slughorn had dressed up as a pirate, and the whole group had to admit that it wasn't a bad costume. There were others all dotted around the room, mainly dressed as famous muggle or wizarding characters. One guy had even come as Merlin. Professor McGonagall's costume was by far one of the best. Nobody had expected her to dress up, yet she had decided to embrace her animagus and come as a cat. She was dressed in black wizarding robes, and had real whiskers, a tail and ears growing out of her body and face. Dumbledore had come as Willy Wonka, which considering his love of sweets wasn't that surprising, and it gave him an excuse to eat sweets all night.

The party consisted of a Halloween style meal prepared by the house elves, which everyone had said was one of the best meals they had ever made. Even the elves had made an effort to dress up in simple costumes borrowing bits and pieces from around the castle to create costumes. Then there was dancing and singing and generally having fun. A few of the guys had joked about how the colour of Rachel's skin could be seen as her converting to Slytherin, but once the whole group was laughing at how ridiculous it seemed, nobody seemed to care. For once the whole house rivalry was slightly better and the group spent the night talking to students that they had never spoken to before. Slughorn had even invited a few of his old students and Ministry officials. Even Hunter and Isabelle had put in an appearance. Hunter was dressed as Apollo, the Greek god of music and Isabelle was Artemis the Greek Goddess of the hunt, and Apollo's sister.

"You guys look great." Isabelle said once the group had found them.

Since the wedding Hunter and Isabelle had both taken jobs at the Ministry. Isabelle was working for the department of mysteries whilst Hunter was working for the department of Misuse of Muggle Artifacts with an old friend of his Arthur Weasley.

"Thanks so do you." Tonks exclaimed hugging Isabelle.

"So hows the work load?" Hunter asked placing a hand around his wife's hips.

"You weren't lying when you said it was a lot." Sirius said.

The whole group had chosen their N.E.W.T.S and was working hard towards their chosen careers.

Alice had chosen to take Herbology, Charms, DADA Transfiguration and Arithmancy to help her become a Herbology teacher.

Frank wanted to be an auror and so was studying Herbology, Charms, DADA, Transfiguration and Arithmancy like Alice.

Remus had chosen to take DADA, Astronomy, Potions and Transfiguration so that he could one day teach Astronomy.

Sirius was taking DADA, Charms, Transfiguration, Study of Ancient Runes (which had surprised everyone) and Astronomy, so he could train to be a hit wizard after Hogwarts and help to catch dangerous wizards and witches.

Maddy wanted to be a Healer and so she was taking Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms and DADA.

Lily also wanted to be a Healer and was also taking Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Charms and DADA.

James wanted to teach Quidditch as his chosen career and so had decided to study DADA, Care of Magical Creatures, Charms and Transfiguration, and was also helping Madam Hooch train the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

Although she still had 2 years to go before she left Tonks already knew she wanted to be an Auror, and so had picked DADA, Transfiguration, Charms, Potions and Astronomy as her N.E.W.T.S.

Severus wanted to get his Potions Masters degree before he went into teaching and so had picked DADA, Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology.

Rachel also wanted to teach, and she wanted to one day teach Transfiguration, so had picked DADA, Potions, Charms, Herbology and Transfiguration as her N.E.W.T.S, and McGonagall was teaching her Alchemy along side due to her powers.

The party soon drew to a close and the guests began to disappear home and to their dorms. The Marauders were glad Slughorn had chosen to have the party on a Friday night, so they didn't need to worry about classes in the morning. Tonks had been given permission again to stay in the Gryffindor tower with the girls, and Severus had also been given permission to stay with the boys that night. Just as the group was heading up to be, Rachel moved away from the group to say goodnight to Isabelle and Hunter.

"I was really great to see you again." She said hugging them both.

"Hey we'll both be at your graduation, promise." Hunter said, before giving Isabelle a nudge. Isabelle smiled and caught his unspoken message.

"Whats going on?" Rachel asked.

"We weren't going to tell anyone yet, but we need to tell someone." Isabelle said as Hunter place a hand around her waist.

"Were having a baby." Isabelle said.

"Oh wow, that's so great for you guys." Rachel said hugging Isabelle close.

"We think so too. We'll send you a picture as soon as there is something that doesn't look like a peanut growing in me." Isabelle said with a laugh.

"Anyway you had better get off to bed." Hunter said with a stern tone.

"Watch it mister. You may be about to be a dad, but that doesn't mean your can pretend to be my dad." Rachel suddenly yawned. Hunter laughed.

"Bed!" He said pointing.

"Fine." Rachel replied before giving them both another hug.  
>"Speak soon ok?" She said earning a nod from both of her old prefects.<p>

Rachel soon caught up with the rest of the group, and after saying goodnight, they all headed to bed, and were all asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows.

**Ok, so not much of a chapter, but I wanted to put in something light before I head on to my concluding chapters. Although I will be having a Yule ball, nothing to do with the tri-wizard tournament though, but things will get darker after that, so you have been warned. Anyway I need to get some sleep as unfortunately I have work in the morning, but hey three chapters of three different stories in one night, that's still pretty good even if I do say so myself. If anyone wants to see pictures of any of the costumes send me a message and I will try to direct you to places where you can find them, although I did draw the female costumes myself. As always read and review, and enjoy.**

**Beth **


	21. Chapter 20

**So here is another chapter. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who follows my story, and has added me to their following list; it really means a lot to me to know that people are reading my stories. **

Chapter 20

"I can't believe that we are finally finished." James said with a smile on his face. Sirius gave him a high five.

"Lucky you, I've still got another year left, and this time I'll be all alone." Tonks said with a sad tone.

"Hey." Remus said placing an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders, "you'll still see us."

"Yeah." Maddie added. "Let us know every Hogsmead weekend and we will come to see you."

"And I'm sure Albus would let us visit sometimes if we asked nicely." Alice said with her friendly tone of voice. The others agreed.

The group had just finished their last NEWT exams and had plans to spend the rest of the day out by the Black Lake taking in the summer sun and planning for their graduations.

"So what are we all going to wear to the graduation ball?" Lily asked.

Dumbledore had surprised the seventh year students with the news that on the day before they graduated and headed home for the last time, there would be a ball to celebrate their time at Hogwarts. All the seventh years were invited and as head boy and girl, James and Lily would be leading the graduating students in the first dance of the night.

"Lils you know that I couldn't care less about what to wear to a ball."

"True Rach, but this will be the last time we will be all together at Hogwarts so why not go all out and wear a dress?" Sirius said with the familiar twinkle in his eyes. Maddie punched him.

"Are you going to wear a dress Rachel?" Alice asked.

"I don't know. I'm still deciding what to wear, I might just recycle that suit I wore to Hunter and Isabelle's wedding, I'm sure that it still fits." The group laughed. It was true Rachel hadn't grown much since the wedding.

"Come on Rach, just once it would be fun to see you in a dress." Frank said. The others agreed. Rachel just sighed.

"We'll see guys but I'm not promising anything." The group laughed.

Just as the group were letting their laughter die down, they heard a voice coming from behind them.

"I'm sure that I will be able to get into the ministry with the grades I'm going to get." The group instantly recognised the voice as that of belonging to Lucius Malfoy.

"Then once I'm part of the ministry I can make sure that the magical world is no longer polluted with that of mudbloods." His group agreed with him.

"And then once the world is cleaned of those unworthy of magic, we can finally have a pure world." Bellatrix said with her familiar cackle in her laugh.

"I've had enough of this." Frank said as he rose, Alice quickly following him.

"Frank don't, you'll just be making things worse if we start a fight again."

"I'm not going to start a fight." Said Frank with a grin. He pulled his wand from its holster and muttered a silent spell his wand pointed in Lucius's direction.

Suddenly there came a shout as Malfoy's school uniform suddenly changed colour to become red and gold. All those around who heard his shouts turned their heads. Suddenly laugher filled the air as everyone including a number of Slytherin's began laughing at Lucius's sudden change of house. The Marauder's found themselves rolling around on the floor laughing their heads off. Sirius gave Frank a high five.

"Nice one buddy didn't think you had it in you."

At that Lucius turned his head; a murderous gaze fell over his face.

"I should have known that you would have had something to do with this." He said storming over to the group. At once the Marauder's were on their feet, and surrounded Frank, each with their wands in their hands. Lucius twisted his hand, and instantly Alice's clothes had turned to a horrific shade of green. He had also managed to change her hair colour too. She was horrified when the Slytherin's began laughing and pointing at her hair. Lily quickly turned Alice's clothes and hair back to normal, as Tonks fired off another silent spell which hit Narcissa and turned her hair the same shade of pink as her own. Narcissa screamed.

"You Bitch!" She said firing a bogey hex at Tonks, which Sirius deflected and it ended up rebounding and hitting another Slytherin.

"Hey!" He cried and fired off a spell of his own.

Soon spells were bouncing back and forwards between all those who stood by the Lake. Hex's were fired off, spells caused colour changes between everyone, but still Lucius couldn't manage to change his uniform back to normal, which enraged him even more. He began yelling at the group demanding that they take the spell off him.

"You should be bowing to our superior blood lines." He shrieked.

"Oh for god sake, no body has a truly pureblood linage. We are somehow related Malfoy and I'm a half blood." Tonks yelled back. Malfoy muttered something under his breath and fired off another spell which hit Lily this time. She cried out as she fell to the ground and hit her head on the floor, causing her to get a nosebleed.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" Came a screaming shout from the castle. Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, Professor Flitwick, Hagrid and Madam Pomfrey came rushing out of the castle.

"It was their fault!" Bellatrix shrieked as she tried desperately to change her bright pink and green hair and Gryffindor inspired robes back to her normal attire.  
>"She hexed us." Bellatrix pointed to Rachel.<p>

"What did I do?" Rachel yelled back.

"You were born you pathetic mudblood!" Bellatrix screamed back as she lunged at Rachel only to be held back by Hagrid who picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

"Put me down you worthless piece of space!" She shrieked and hit her fists against his back in an attempt to escape. Hagrid just held her tighter.

"Miss Black that is enough of that!" Professor Flitwick tried to calm the situation but Narcissa fired another spell which hit the small teacher and caused him to fall over.

"THAT IS ENOUGH!" McGonagall's voice boomed over the landscape. She waved her wand and the chaos was returned to normal. Hair and clothing was turned back to its original colours, hexes were neutralised and other spells were removed from their victims.

"Now will you behave?" Hagrid asked Bellatrix who was still thrown over his shoulder.

"Go to Hell!" Bellatrix yelled back.

"Miss Black please be quiet." Dumbledore said rubbing his hand over his face.

"They started it and they're not getting punished for it." Narcissa screamed. Frank stepped forward.

"Professor I admit I did change the colour of Lucius's clothing, but only after he said and I quote "once I'm part of the ministry I can make sure that the magical world is no longer polluted with that of mudbloods."" Frank admitted.

"Thank you for your honesty Mr Longbottom, 10 points will be taken from Gryffindor for your prank." Dumbledore said.

"A prank! That's what you call it?" Lucius yelled. "He assaulted me!"

"Oh please, after all the pranks and attacks you've pulled on us over the last 7 years, this is a small fraction of what we should do to you." Severus said calmly.

"Is that a threat Snivellus?" Rodolphus said with an evil tone to his voice, and a glint in his eyes.

"Mr LeStrange." McGonagall said her teacher tone taking over her voice.

"No Rodolphus is a fact."

"Mr Snape."

"Sorry Professor."

Madam Pomfrey was by this point helping Lily and trying to stop her nose from bleeding.

"She has a broken nose; I'm going to need to take her to the hospital wing. I'm I ok to take her?" Poppy asked directing her question at Minerva and Albus. He nodded.

"I'm coming too." Rachel said helping Lily to her feet.

"I would expect nothing less Miss Evans." Poppy said with a smile.

"Now do you all think we can put this behind us all?" Albus said. "You are graduating in a few days, and I would rather not hand out detentions." He said with a chuckle. Bellatrix growled.

"I can change that Miss Black." Minerva said.

"Fine." Bellatrix said. "Can you put me down now?" She snarled. Hagrid looked at Albus who nodded and he put Bellatrix back on the ground.

"Thank you." She said sarcastically. She snatched her wand from the ground where she had dropped it.

Just as the group had started to leave to walk with Lily and Madam Pomfrey when Rachel and Severus heard a sound from behind them. The both turned their head's at the same time and was able to just make out Bellatrix casting a spell which was heading in Rachel's direction. Severus was able to move just in time to take the full force of the spell before it hit Rachel. He was knocked to the ground and hit his head hard on the floor. Alice screamed. Dumbledore quickly grabbed Bellatrix's wand from her hand and Hagrid picked her up again and the pair carried her off to take her away from the group, Bellatrix cackled all the way. Rodolphus followed her smiling, whilst Lucius and Narcissa followed looking a bit wary, maybe Bellatrix had taken it a step too far.

Rachel had managed to recover from Severus's pushing her out of harms way and had rushed over to him.

"Sev, Sev wake up." She cried shaking his shoulders and rolling him onto his back.

"Miss Evans, don't move him. He could have a head trauma." Poppy said as Remus and James held Rachel back from Severus's body. She struggle to escape their grasps but they both held tight as Maddy, Alice, Tonks, Frank and Lily rushed to help both Severus and Rachel. Minerva had rushed to help Poppy, as the Medi-witch began running a spell over Severus's body. She looked at Minerva.

"Nothing seems to be damaged but I want to get him to my department first so I can run a proper spell over that head injury of his. Minerva looked down and saw that Severus had a rather large cut on the top of his head, just covered by the beginning of his hairline. She nodded, and Poppy quickly pulled something from her pocket which she enlarged to become a stretcher. The two witches lifted Severus onto the stretcher and floated it to the hospital wing quickly, with the rest of the group rushing behind them.

**Dun, dun, dun! Ok so maybe that was a little dramatic, but I am trying to add tension here. So this chapter is slightly shorter than I would normally write, but I have big plans for the next couple of chapters so hopefully that will make up for the length of this one. So as always please read and review my chapter, it is really nice to know that people are actually reading my story, and yes I know how tacky that sounds! :)**

**Anyhow, enjoy and let me know whether you like it or not. **

**Beth (and Happy Christmas in case I don't post again before the big day)**


	22. Chapter 21

**So Happy New Year to you all, hope you had a great Christmas and got everything you all wanted. (I know that sounds like the opening to some corny story, but oh well!) Here is my first posting of 2014 (still feels weird writing that!) and I am promising here and now, that I will try to update more and quicker this year, I am hopefully going to be finishing up Sister's of Magic this year, but I have a sequel all planned out, and hopefully I will be ending Sister's of Magic with a cliffhanger none of you will be expecting (dun dun dun). So for those of you also looking out for updates on my other current story (A Love That Would Last Forever) there will be an update soon, I'm fighting (and loosing) against writers block at the moment, but I am trying to fight back and come up with a brilliant idea for the direction of the story, if anyone has ideas or suggestions they are more than welcome to message me and I will give credit, I promise! (Gibbs lowers his gun!) **

**Anyway enough of my ramblings enjoy my latest chapter :)**

Chapter 21

As it turned out Severus didn't have anything more than a nasty cut on his head and a splitting head ache. That of course didn't stop Rachel and the others from worrying. Once Poppy had Severus comfortable on the hospital wing she turned her attention to Lily. One quick spell later Lily had her nose fixed and was holding an ice pack to it to stop any swelling. She had told Poppy to focus on Severus and not her and it had taken Rachel, James and Alice to convince her that it wouldn't do Sev any more damage if Poppy fixed her nose. Severus woke up about half an hour after Bellatrix's spell knocked him out, something which pleased both Poppy and the Marauders alike.

"Severus Tobias Snape, don't you ever do anything like that ever again, you scared me senseless!" Rachel yelled at him once he awoke. She was soon apologising for shouting at him when he had a headache. She was on the verge of tears, which the group found sad as they had never seen Rachel cry before, not even after what happened with Tobias. It was obvious to all just how much she and Severus meant to each other, and they were both on the point of telling the group about their soul marks when they thought better of it.

Poppy kept both Severus and Lily in over night, to keep any eye on them both. It took a lot of persuading and a quick fire-call to Albus to ok it, but the group persuaded Poppy to let them all stay in the hospital wing over night.

In the middle of the night Rachel slipped from her bed and over to Severus's who was still awake, his headache preventing him from fully falling asleep.

"Severus?" Rachel's voice quivered as she spoke.

"Hey can't sleep either?" He said shuffling over slightly on his bed to allow room for Rachel to snuggle next to him. Severus wrapped his arm around Rachel's shaking body and held her close.

"Hey, I'm ok there's no need to be worried anymore." Rachel just sniffed. Severus pulled her close and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"You could have been seriously hurt Severus. Why didn't you just let the spell hit me?"

"Are you insane Rach? Why would I let any danger come to you when I can protect you?" Rachel looked up catching his gaze in her own. She blinked back a few tears.

"Rachel I would do anything to protect you, to make sure that you are kept safe from all the Bellatrix's of the world." She smiled up at him and placed a small kiss on his lips.

"My hero." She sighed. Severus laughed quietly. Rachel moved her head and snuggled down into Severus's arm as she closed her eyes. Severus pulled the cover of the bed from underneath her and wrapped it over the pair of them. He kissed her again as she snuggled closer to him.

"I love you Rachel Evans." Severus said quietly into her hair as he pulled her tight against his body.

"You love me?" She replied.

Severus swallowed.

"I thought you where asleep." He confessed. She smiled up at him.

"You love me?" She repeated with a twinkle in her eye, something which Severus noticed. He smiled.

"Nice try Evans." He said referring to her questioning.

"You know exactly how I feel about you." Under the duvet the pair clasped their hands together and both felt a warming sensation spreading over their bodies.

"Well then I suppose it's a good thing that I love you too Severus Snape." Rachel said with the biggest grin on her face that Severus had ever seen.

"And I want to make sure that you are ok so I don't care what you say, you are staying in this hospital bed until Madam Pomfrey says you are ok to come out."

"Rachel as long as I am with you, I'm on top of the world." The pair kissed again before falling asleep in each others arms.

That was exactly how Poppy found them in the morning. Both curled up together Rachel's head resting on Severus's chest just below his shoulder, his chin resting on her the top of her head, their hands still entwined together. She smiled at the pair just as Minerva came through the archway into the Hospital Wing.

"Poppy?"

"Shhh, their sleeping." She said pointing to the rest of the Marauders as well as Severus and Rachel. Minerva smiled at the sight of the two teenagers.

"Aren't they sweet?" Poppy asked.

"They remind me of someone." Minerva said trying to rack her brains to find the connection.

"I know what you mean." Poppy said still gazing at the couple as the slept.

"Do you think we should wake them?" Minerva asked.

"As much as I would love to say no, I think if the rest of their group awoke to find them like this it might cause some awkward questions." Minerva nodded and she gently nudged Rachel's shoulder, Poppy moved around the bed and gently tried to arouse Severus.

"Rachel dear, Rachel time to wake up."

Rachel's POV

My eyelids began to flutter as Minerva pulled me from my dreams.

"Professor?" I opened eyes to find the familiar and kind eyes of my teacher staring back down at me.

"Good morning, Madam Pomfrey and I though you might want to move from your current position before you sister and friends awoke." I turned my head to see that I had fallen asleep holding Severus close. He looked at me as I turned my head.

"Morning." He said moving his arm from around me so I could get out of the bed.

"Morning." I said moving out of the bed to sit in the chair next to his bed. Minerva passed me my hoodie, which I quickly threw over my head to keep me warm in the cold morning. It was still lightly dark outside as the sun had yet to rise very high in the sky, and it was only producing a faint glow at the current time.

"You will be please to know that both Miss Black and Mr LeStrange have been banned from attending the ball at the end of the week, and Bellatrix is in detentions until the day she graduates." Minerva said to us both.

"Good." Severus said as Poppy helped him to sit up in his bed.

"How is your head this morning Mr Snape?"

"Still sore." Sev admitted.

"Well that is to be expected I'm afraid. There isn't really any potion I can give you to take away the pain as I want to see if any damage has been done while you recover."

"Will I be able to get out here today?" Sev asked, Poppy shook her head.

"I want to keep you in for another few days at least. Head injuries can be very unpredictable, Mr Snape. With you in here I can keep an eye on you, monitor you if anything should happen, not that I'm saying it will." She added when she saw my horrified expression.

"I have notified both of your parents last night." Minerva said. I groaned.

"What is the matter Miss Evans?" Poppy asked.

"After what happened with Sev's father my parents have been wrapping me in bubble wrap. This will just make things more complicated." I sighed. I knew my parents would be more concerned with Lily as she was the one who was actually hurt, but I knew that my parents would make a big fuss out of nothing.

"Well then you will be pleased to know that I managed to talk them out of coming to see you both, I told them that Lily was perfectly fine and that you had escaped with only a bruise here and there. However your mother will be stopping by today Mr Snape; she wants to make sure you are all right for herself." Minerva added. Sev nodded. I let out a sigh of relief.

"That's mum for you; she won't believe anything until she sees it with her own eyes. Madam Pomfrey, will I still be ok to go to the ball on Friday?" Sev asked.

"Well today's Wednesday and I want to keep you in until at least tomorrow afternoon to make sure everything is ok. How about we play it by ear?" Poppy asked.

Poppy and Minerva soon left us alone to talk about something else. Sev turned to me the second they were out of earshot.

"Rach, I want you to go the ball without me."

"What are you talking about? You going to come with me, you'll be out of here by Thursday afternoon and we can go together."

Severus placed his hand in mine.

"Rach if something does happen I want you to go to the ball."

"But I don't want to go without you; I'd rather stay here with you all night."

"I know which is why I want you to go to the ball. You can go with the others and then tell me all about it once it's over." I ran a hand over my face.

"You know Sev you haven't actually asked me to go to the ball with you in the first place." I said with a smile. Sev smiled back.

"Well then, can I have the pleasure of taking my beautiful girlfriend to the ball?" Sev said with a dramatic flair to his voice. I giggled.

"Oh course you may. You realise now this means you will have to be better by Friday mister."

No one's POV

Lily was released early the next morning, and after Eileen arrived to check on her son, the group was persuaded to return to their dorms to shower and change clothes, before heading to the hall for breakfast. Rachel was quiet throughout.

"Well he'll be at the party and those Slytherin's won't so that's something good I suppose." James said trying to defuse the uncomfortable silence. Rachel didn't say a word.

"Yeah." Remus agreed. "And we know Severus will make sure he'll be there." The girls nodded. Rachel still didn't speak. Lily grabbed her sister and hugged her tight.

"Rachel? Please talk to me. You're scaring me." Rachel moved her head so that it was resting on Lily's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"He could have been seriously hurt Lil." She whispered.

"But he wasn't." Maddy added placing a hand on Rachel's shoulder.

"He still could have been though, and it would have all been because of me." The group tried to tell Rachel that it wasn't her fault, but she carried on talking, not giving them a chance to speak.

"That curse was aimed at me, if Sev hadn't pushed me out the way it would have hit me." She closed her eyes and buried them into Lily's shoulder. Lily hugged Rachel as tight as she could, and for a minute there was silence as the group just watched the two sisters, one trying to help the other heal.

"Lils, I think I'm gonna take a walk."

"Ok well we can grab a jacket or something on the way and..." Sirius began but Rachel stopped him.

"No, I am going for a walk by myself." Lily began to protest but the look her sister gave her was enough for Lily to stop and watch as her twin walked out of the hall and disappeared into the morning.

Rachel's POV

Somehow I had made my way back to the Gryffindor tower, grabbed my sketch book and some pencils, and had made my way outside. I didn't know where I was going but somehow my feet decided to take me to the one place I knew I wouldn't be found; Buckbeak's home. The animal raised his head as I approached. I bowed and sat on the floor, staring into space. For a good few minutes I just sat staring at the trees thinking of nothing. Buckbeak cocked his head and rose from his position to join me, and soon I found myself tucked beneath the wings of the magnificent animal as he held me, as if he was holding out all the bad things in the world. I closed my eyes and for the first time in very long time, I just let the tears flow from my eyes.

No one's POV

"Mum honestly I'm fine." Severus insisted as his mother babied him more.

"Severus what is it with you and getting hurt!" She said still tucking him in his bed and placing her hand on his forehead. Severus looked at Madam Pomfrey who was trying desperately not to laugh at the scene. Knowing she would need to do something soon, she decided to check on her patient.

"How are you feeling Mr Snape?" Severus looked at her with a smile appearing on his face.

"Fine, just a little head ache still." Severus said. Madam Pomfrey took out her wand and ran a spell over her patient.

"Can I go now?" Severus asked. Poppy frowned.

"Your head ache still permits me from letting you go Severus. I can't let you out of my sight until I know for sure that your head ache has gone. This spell will check if the pain in your head is still giving us cause for concern." Poppy ran her wand over Severus's head as the tip of her wand turned a light shade of red.

"When the light turns white then you will be able to be released Severus, as for now, your going to be staying her for a little while longer."

**And so there we have another chapter. I would just like to say thank you to everyone who has read my story so far, and to all those who have commented, like my story and myself as an author, it really does mean a lot to me, to know that people actually like what I'm writing. If anyone has any suggestions about anything then please let me know, I love hearing from people. **

**Also on a slightly off topic note, I recently read a book (not a Fanfiction) called 'Fangirl' by Rainbow Rowell which I found on amazon, which really made me laugh. It's basically about a girl who goes to college and is a pretty damn good Fanfiction writer. I would really recommend giving it a read; it's kinda like what we do on here, but in a book form. **

**Anyway enough of me selling other authors, as usual please read and review my aim (if I can) is to reach 85 reviews by the time I have finished the story. Anyway enjoy and hope to hear from you guys soon :)**

**Beth Xxx**


	23. Chapter 22

**Hi all, new chapter for you all, hope you enjoy it, hey you all know the drill :)**

Chapter 22

Rachel's POV

The night of the ball had come, and yet Severus was still in the hospital wing. Whilst Lily and the others chatted and changed for the night ahead, I sat still on my bed still wearing my school clothes. The others knew that I was there yet they had no idea what to say.

"Rachel?" Alice said coming and sitting beside me. "You know that you don't have to come with us tonight, but maybe it would be a good idea. Take your mind off everything." Maddy joined her sitting on my other side and placed an arm around my shoulders.

"You did promise Sev that you'd go." She added quietly and kindly. I nodded still not really paying attention to what I was doing.

"Rach?" Lily said standing in front of me. "Do you want to go?"

I turned my head to see that all the girls were standing or sitting around me, dressed in their dressing gowns. I hadn't really noticed them at all to be honest. I just kept staring out of the window of our dorm. I looked at all the girls in turn before turning back to looking at Lily.

"I made a promise to Sev, you guys carry on getting changed, I'm gonna have a shower." I left the girls as I moved off the bed and headed for the bathroom. Alice grabbed my shoulder and turned me back around. She smiled at me and gave me a hug. I smiled back and soon the other girls joined me and Alice in a massive group hug.

After showering and washing my hair, I left the bathroom and entered the dorm room. Maddy was sitting on her bed whilst Lily helped her to curl her brown hair so it fell around her shoulders. Tonks was sitting on the bed with them using her skills to change her hair till she found something she liked; she eventually decided on making her hair longer and turning it a darker shade of a pinky red colour, and tying it in a long plait which she draped over her shoulder. Alice was sitting on her bed brushing her hair and straightening it with her wand. Once Lily had finished with Maddy, they turned around and Maddy helped Lily to curl her hair the same way. Alice saw me coming out of the bathroom and led me to sit on my bed. The rest of the girls stood and joined Alice standing around my bed.

"Ok, so what do you want doing with your hair?" Tonks asked holding out her wand. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, do you not know me at all? Do whatever you guys want." I said with a smile. The girls all smiled and quickly set to work on my hair. Tonks took to drying it, whilst Alice took out her wand and began to curl the ends of my long hair. Once Tonks' had dried my hair and Alice had curled the ends, Lily and Maddy began to pile the curls onto the top of my head fixing them with hairspray, hair pins and magic. They then clipped a small jewelled hair clip, in the shape of a few flowers and a set of swirls, not unlike the one's which helped to make up my soul mark, on the left side of my head. Once they had finished they stood back to admire their work.

"Not bad." Lily said.

"Not bad at all." Maddy said with a high five. Alice helped me with the minimalist make-up I wore, and the rest of the girls finished their make-up and hair before they decided to get changed.

Nobody's POV

Waiting down in the common room the boys were all changed and awaiting their girls; all except Sev that was.

"Do we think Rachel's going to be ok tonight?" Remus asked fiddling with the collar of his dress robes. Sirius wacked his hand away from the collar.

"Will you stop fiddling?! For Merlin's sake your making yourself look nervous."

"What makes you think I'm not nervous?" Remus said.

"Hey guys, I think there's someone else who's more nervous than us." Frank said pointing to James who stood in the corner, almost as white as a sheet.

"I'd almost forgot that you and Lily would be having the first dance of the night Prongs."

"Shut up." James said quietly. The boys laughed.

The common room not only held the Maurders but many other seventh years ready to go to the ball, and some of the younger years who wanted to see the elder year off to the ball.

"Something funny boys?" Maddy said appearing at the top of the stairs. The room turned to see her standing in the archway of the girl's dorm rooms. She was wearing a peach coloured long dress with small straps made up of lots of tiny gems stuck to the material. There was row of gems stuck around the top of the dress outlining her bust, and another row underneath. She had a pair of heels on her feet under the dress, and pair of diamond earrings her grandmother had given her as a birthday present the year before, and a silver bracelet on her wrist, which Sirius had given her.

"Wow!" Sirius said his eyes unable to move from his girlfriend. Maddy chuckled and came down the stairs to give her boyfriend a peak on the cheek.

"Put your tongue away darling. You haven't seen the other girls yet."

After Maddy came Tonks. The group couldn't help but smile when they saw Tonks. Her dress was made up of a corset top and floaty skirt, coloured in multiple colours. In fact she could almost rival Dumbledore in the colours department! Her skirt seemed to glitter in the light and she wore a massive smile on her face. She had a pair of small heels on her feet, which the group still felt was a bad idea given her clumsy nature, yet she managed to come down the stairs without falling over. Remus held out a hand to her and she pulled her wand from the holster she had on her wrist (in fact all the girls were wearing one) and transfigured his black tie to match her dress. Remus could only laugh.

"Only you Dora, only you." Remus gave his girlfriend a kiss and helped her to put on her necklace, consisting of black thread and small bells which gave a small and quiet jangle when she moved.

Following Tonks down the stairs was Alice. She had chosen to wear a short blue dress which fell to her knees. The strapless dress had a floaty blue skirt and a sash around the waist. She had a pair of silver strappy heels on her feet and wore a charm bracelet around her wrist, with charms that the group had bought her; a silver rabbit from Maddy and Sirius, a wand from Lily and James, what looked like a plant pot from Remus and Tonks, a CD from Rachel and Severus and a heart from Frank. She had borrowed a necklace from her mother which was around her neck.

"You look fantastic Alice." Frank said taking the hand of his girlfriend as she came down the stairs, Alice smiled and blushed as she took her boyfriends hand and he lead her away from the stairs.

Next came Lily. Her red hair helped to highlight her green eyes, and the gorgeous purple dress she wore. It was strapless with a sparkly glittered top and skirt, short in the front and long at the back. The skirt was a lighter colour purple than the top, but helped to compliment her pale skin and stopped her from looking washed out. She had dark purple heels on her feet, a necklace James had bought her for her birthday consisting of a small ruby in a silver clasp round her neck, a pair of earrings Petunia had bought her for Christmas, and a gold bracelet that both Lily and Rachel had been given by their parents. James stopped shaking and stared at Lily. He was speechless.

"Nice one Lils, you finally got James to shut up!" Maddy laughed. James couldn't help but smile his cocky smile as he offered Lily his arm.

"Where's Rachel?" Frank asked.  
>"She'll be down in a minute." Lily said placing a kiss on James's cheek, and taking his hand in hers and squeezing it.<p>

Just as the girls were about to go up to the dorm to get Rachel, she appeared in the archway. The whole common room stared.

Rachel was wearing a long beautiful white dress which fell almost to the floor. The skirt covered her legs, the top showing her tiny waist and the sleeves covered her shoulders and the base of her neck. The dress itself was made of a lace type fabric with the sleeves almost appearing as a cardigan over the dress. It helped to bring out the colour of her cheeks, and the darkness of her hair. Her wrists were bare except her wand in a holster on her left wrist. The clip in her hair sparkled as it hit the light, as did the silver necklace round her neck. A present from Severus, it was a plain and simple necklace with the symbol of infinity made from a single strand of silver metal. She seemed nervous.

For a good few minutes the room was silent, before a first year almost fell through the portrait entrance. Rachel recognised her as Freya, a quite and shy first year, who she struck up a friendship with the day the girl was sorted into Gryffindor.

"You look beautiful Rachel." She said, her voice echoing in the silent common room. Rachel blushed. It was then she noticed that Freya had a small box in her hand. Freya seemed to remember she had it at the same time.

"This is for you." She said holing it out. Rachel came down the steps, and the room noticed that she was wearing a pair of cream heels on her feet which seemed as if they had been made specifically for her.

"I was just up in the hospital wing, when Severus asked me to give you this." Rachel took the box with a small thank you and opened it.

Inside was the most beautiful corsage Rachel had ever seen. It was made up of 3 orchid's coloured white with dashes of pink coming out of the middle of the flowers. Rachel smiled as she lifted it out of the box. Her mother absolutely adored flowers and was interested in the means behind the flower. Rachel knew instantly that the meaning behind the orchids was love. She felt a tear come to her eye and Frank came up and put a hand on her shoulder, Remus the other shoulder and Sirius a hand on her back. James took the corsage from her and placed it on her right wrist. Rachel smiled at her friends.

"Come on then." She said shrugging off the boys and giving Freya a hug as a thank you.

When the group arrived at the great hall, the boys took the hands of their respective partners, and James offered his arm to Rachel. She shook her head.

"You guys go in I just want a minute." The group looked at each other, but after Rachel insisted, they entered the Great Hall, and Rachel stood outside. Rachel was tempted to turn on her heels and head to the Hospital wing to spend the night with Severus, when she turned and almost bumped into Dumbledore and McGonagall, both wearing their dress robes.

"Rachel? Is that you?" McGonagall stood with her eyes wide. Rachel chuckled.

"Yes, although I'm not really sure if this is a good idea." Dumbledore stopped the girl from leaving by offering him his arm. Rachel smiled, and releasing the breath she didn't realise she had been holding in, she took Dumbledore's arm and he led her into the Great Hall, with McGonagall following behind them with Hagrid not far behind that.

Rachel had to hand it to the elves; they had really outdone themselves with the decorations for the ball. The tables were covered in red, yellow, blue and green tablecloths, there were streamers and balloons covering the walls, the ceiling still had candles which floated in the ceiling but they had been raised so that more could be added and the light could be increased. Tables were covered with plates of snacks and a whole table had been devoted to drinks. The area at the front of the room which was normally reserved for the staff table had been transformed into a dance floor and the staff table had been pushed to the side, still able to see the whole room.

Rachel smiled at Dumbledore as he led her to the table the Maurders were sitting at, and deposited her to the chair next to her sister.

"Thank you." Dumbledore bowed his head and headed for the staff table.

"You were going to go to the Hospital wing weren't you?" Tonks asked. Rachel hid her head. Lily pulled her sister into a hug.

"Don't worry; we will have a good night I promise." Lily and Rachel smiled at each other.

Once the dinner had been served, and the plates had been cleared away, Flitwick started to warm up the band as Dumbledore rose from his seat and nodded to Lily and James. James went white again, but Lily held his hand close and smiled at him.

"So ladies and gentlemen we now move on to the first dance of the night, which I believe that one of the men in your year has been looking forward to for a long time." Dumbledore said with a chuckle coming from many of the students.

"Miss Evans, Mr Potter are you ready?" Lily gently pulled James to the floor and the music began and James and Lily began to dance around the floor. The group looked at them as they danced.

"He's not that bad." Sirius whispered. The group nodded.

"Lily's good." Alice commented. Rachel whispered back.

"Mum tried to get us into ballet dancing when we were younger. I didn't take to it, but Lily was really good. She kept it up for a few years before she stopped." The group continued to watch the two dance. Frank soon held out a hand to Alice, who took it and they joined Lily and James on the dance floor. Tonks soon dragged Remus up to dance, and after shooting Rachel a look as if to ask if she wanted to dance only to be given a resounding 'no', Sirius and Maddy took to the floor also, and were joined by Dumbledore and McGonagall and a few other student couples.

A few songs later Lily grabbed Rachel's hand and the sisters began to dance to a more lively song. The whole seventh year body watched the two sisters as the danced around the floor generally having run together, before Lily pulled Rachel close and whispered in her ear, "stay right here." Before Rachel could protest Lily spun her sister around and placed her hands over Rachel's eyes completely blocking her view. Rachel heard the student body whispering to each other, before the students went quiet. The music seemed to quieten down to a stop before it began again with a different song that Rachel knew all to well, 'As the World Falls Down' from Labyrinth, both her own and Sev's favourite film.

She gasped as Lily pulled her hands away and Rachel blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light. She gasped again. Standing in front of her holding out a hand to dance, was Severus. He was dressed in a pair of smart black dress robes, his hair washed and cleaned and his eyes sparkling in Rachel's direction. Rachel felt tears coming to her eyes and the music began to reach its chorus.

"Would you care to dance my Lady?" Sev asked; as Rachel chuckled and took hold of Severus's hand and he pulls her close to dance together.

"You look beautiful." He whispered in her ear. She blushed.

"I thought you wouldn't come tonight."

"I begged Madam Pomfrey to let me come tonight. She agreed that I could only if she could check me over first. She did and I came up ok. She here I am." Severus said as he twirled Rachel around in his arms, her skirt flowing out behind her. The student body smiled at the couple as they danced together.

"Lily and the others knew you would be here didn't they."

"I told them I would try my hardest to get out of the Hospital wing, and when Madam Pomfrey motioned to Lily a minute ago, she knew that I was out." Rachel couldn't help but laugh, as the song drew to a close and Severus pulled her in and kissed her passionately and gently on the lips, to a cheering from the crowd of students.

**Did you really think that I was going to have Rachel go to the ball by herself?! So far I think this has been my favourite chapter to write, but it also sadly marks the beginning of the end of this story. I have another couple of chapters to write, but once they have been posted it will be onto the sequel. So if everyone wants to read and review like normal, I am currently on 67 reviews and I would be so happy if I could make it 85 by the ending of the story. I have put links to the girl's dresses at the bottom if you are interested and want to have a look. But anyway, have a great weekend, and happy reading :) **

**Beth xx**

Maddie's Dress - media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/1/8/18519-peach_f_

Tonks' Dress - .

Alice's Dress -

Lily's Dress - img/pb/593/461/534/534461593_

Rachel's Dress - i00. wsphoto/v0/1190190548_ _

Rachel's Hairpiece – . /_h5PPzemgrQo/TIVmgnMOjTI/AAAAAAAAAlg/PyHzetE24Mg/s1600/emily_blunt_

Rachel's Necklace - 7388a7f785c489b12a2f-152b16ec83b88c57b911c82dbaddf0e5. .


	24. Chapter 23

**After a long conversation with a friend about where my story is heading I have now pretty much planned out exactly what I'm gonna do with Rachel and what she will end up doing. Anyway enjoy my next chapter and please review to help me reach my target by the time I have finished my story. By the way, I had to re-update my last chapter as some of the links didn't come through, hopefully that should be resolved now so I apologise if anyone got a little confused about a chapter update when there wasn't anything new. **

Chapter 23

As the song drew to a close Severus and Rachel pulled apart and looked at each other, a smile appearing on each others lips. Linking arms the pair left the dance floor to a smiling audience and headed to the table, where the Maurders had been sitting for most of the night. They were quick to greet the happy couple, and to congratulate Sev on his dramatic entrance.

"Nice one mate." James said patting Sev lightly on the back, to avoid a glare from Madam Pomfrey.

"Didn't think you were gonna make it tonight." Frank added shaking Sev's hand. Sev just smiled.

"Well I couldn't very well leave Rach on her own tonight now could I?" He took hold of Rachel's waist, and pulled her lightly so that she was sitting on his lap; then placed a kiss on her lace covered shoulder.

"By the way Rachel, gorgeous dress." Maddy added. "I know I said that earlier, but when you were dancing just now that dress looked like it was almost made for you." Rachel blushed. Lily couldn't but help hold a silence giggle in, but her face gave her away.

"Lily Rose Evans, what are you laughing about?" Tonks said.

"Well…" Lily looked at her twin. "Do you wanna tell them or shall I?" Rachel breathed in.

"Once mum heard about the ball she wanted to help with our dresses, and she's got this good friend of hers who makes wedding dresses for a living. Lily knew what she wanted her dress to be like so I helped her sketch it, and we sent to mum who passed it on to her friend, who agreed to make it." Rachel lifted her head to her sister, who stood and simply twirled giving the group a full view of her beautiful dress.

"You designed that?" Alice asked the sisters.

"Well, Lily had the main idea." Rachel started.

"And Rachel drew it." Lily finished.

"So what about your dress?" Tonks asked.

"That was the problem." Lily said. "Missie here had no idea what she wanted to wear, so we basically started with a blank piece of paper."

"And Lily and I wrote down everything we could of think of that would apply to me, to see if anything leapt out at us."

"Mum sent us a few ideas and so did Auntie Lizzy, but Rachel didn't like any of them."

"They just seemed too unlike me." Rachel said holding her hands in a mock surrender.

"So Rachel just doodled a lot in her book, and eventually she came up with this." Lily said gesturing to the dress.

The group gasped.

"You came up with that dress?!" Sirius said in disbelief. Even Sev was shocked.

"I can be slightly girl when I want." Rachel said trying to justify her actions. The group laughed.

"Who'd have though eh? Our Rachel, a princess at heart." James said with his usual dramatic flair. Rachel reached out and hit him across the shoulder but the group just laughed.

The remainder of the night was spent eating the small nibbles that the house elves had place around the room, drinking pumpkin juice and dancing and chatting with fellow students and teachers. Dumbledore claimed both sisters, Maddy, Alice and Tonks for a dance each, and McGonagall even managed a dance with Sev and James, the latter of the pair however stepping on her toes, so they gave up a very short dance. Maddy and Alice also danced with Flitwick, and somehow Rachel managed a dance with Hagrid. Even a few of the less hateful Slytherin's gained a dance with proclaimed Gryffindor princesses, which included Tonks, and the boys also danced with many of the girls from all 4 houses. The seventh year Ravenclaw Prefect Daniel also managed a dance with Lily, before James took his girlfriend back and the pair danced all around the floor. Well, James dragged Lily around floor, before grabbing Sirius's hand and two boys danced to a rally of laughed from all; surprisingly they weren't bad dancers together. Rachel and Lily had another dance together, and by the end of the night, the whole group had danced with pretty much everyone in the room, and Rachel was very glad the group had talked her into coming.

It was nearing the end of the night when Sev grabbed Rachel's hand and the pair managed to escape from the crowded room. The pair hurried quickly along the corridor before making it to their destination; the kitchens. Severus reached out with one hand, the other still holding tight to Rachel's hand, and tickled the pear in the painting before them. It squirmed before laughing and transforming into a green door knob, which Severus opened to find a hundred house elves running around like lunatics. Some were shouting orders to others whilst some were simply disappearing in and out with plates of full food and empty plates which were set aside for another elf to clean. Severus pulled Rachel closer as the kitchens were colder than the hall and quickly took of his suit jacket and placed it around her. She kissed him on the check in a 'thank you' and pulled the jacket tighter around her.

Suddenly one of the house elves spotted the pair standing in the doorway and gave a squeal.

"Master Severus, Mistress Rachel!" The whole kitchen stopped what they had been doing and rushed to greet the pair and dragged them into the warmth of the main part of the kitchens. Rachel gave Severus back his jacket as she warmed up and the female elves began to smile and touch her dress.

"It's so pretty Miss." One of the younger elves said as Rachel smiled and bent down. She took her wand from her holster and transfigured the tea-towel the elf was wearing into a version of her own dress. The elf gave a squeal of delight and twirled around. Some of the other elves began to look a little jealous so the delighted little elf asked Rachel to turn it back, which she did.

"We wanted to thank you all for the hard work you have put in tonight." Severus said.

"It was our pleasure Master Severus." One of the older elves said tugging on Sev's trouser leg.  
>"We would do anything to please our Hogwarts family." Another elf said.<p>

"Well in any case," Rachel said standing tall again. "You have gone above and beyond what would have been expected of you tonight, and for that we are all eternally grateful." A few of the elves blushed.

"Miss Rachel?" One of the youngest elves tugged at her dress. Rachel turned her attention to the elf.

"Will we still see you after you leave?" Rachel bent down again to talk to the little elf.

"Of course you all will. Infact most of our group of friends would like to come back to teach here when we graduate." The elves gave a whoop of delight as a few jumped at Rachel and hugged her. It was lucky Severus was standing behind her or else she might have fallen over.

They spent a little while longer with the elves talking to them and helping to move large stacks of plates and food, before saying 'goodnight' and heading back to the hall. When they got back they could see that a few students were leaving and heading to their dorms to get to bed. The Maurders however were still dancing and chatting away. James was even having a dance with Madam Pomfrey.

"There you are!" Alice exclaimed. She pulled the two over to stand with Professor Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall whilst Lily took a photo with her camera. Maddy grabbed Rachel's camera and also took a photo, to which Rachel was grateful. They snapped a few more photos of students and teachers alike. Lily and Maddy pounced on Flitwick and took a photo with him. Hagrid had a photo taken with Rachel sitting on his shoulder laughing, whilst the other's piled around his legs. Lily took a photo of Rachel and Professor McGonagall, whilst Sev had one taken with Madam Pomfrey. Before the night was over however the group was pulled together, and after showing the Professor's how to use their camera's, they had a group photo taken by Professor McGonagall, and one of the remaining students took a photo of the whole group with the teaching staff of Hogwarts. Lily promised to get a copy of the picture sent to Professor Dumbledore so he could place it in the staff room.

By midnight the celebrations had wound down and the group returned to the Gryffindor common room where they would all be spending the night. The teacher's had relaxed the rules about lights out for the night, and so once they had changed into some more comfortable clothing, they returned to the common room and spent a few more hours talking amongst themselves and with other 7th years who joined them.

"I can't believe we are going home the day after tomorrow." Alice said with a tear in her eyes.

"We've had so many good memories in this place." Maddy added looking around the room.

"And some not so good ones." Rachel said snuggling up to Severus. He gave her a kiss on her forehead as reassurance that he wasn't going anywhere.

"Well what ever happens to us in the future," Frank said, "I hope we all stay together."

"Of course we will!" Tonks said her hair turning a very bright pink colour. "Even though I've got another year left, I hope you guys will all be waiting for me?" The group gave a round of agreement for their younger friend.

"Don't worry cousin, there is no way we could ever forget about you." Sirius said with a nudge towards her.

"You wouldn't let us." James joked as Lily gave him a playful punch. The group sat talking for a little longer before agreeing that they would turn in for the night.

(In the boy's room)

"Hey guys?" Frank asked.

"What's up mate?"

"Would you think it's too soon to be thinking about asking Alice to marry me?"

"Are you kidding me?" James said throwing his pillow in Frank's direction. Frank caught it and threw it back.

"I'm being serious. We've been together for a really long time, and I know she's the one I want to spend the rest of my life with."

"I know how you feel." Remus added quietly. Sirius glared at him.

"I'm sorry mate but I love Dora, and I hate the fact that she still has another year here whilst we are all leaving. In fact I was thinking about having a gap year so that we could go to uni together."

"Didn't you already get accepted though?" Severus asked.

"Well yeah, but I can turn it down." Remus said a little sheepishly.

"Moony, Tonks would kill you if you turned down uni for her. I mean yeah she'll think its romantic, but she would be really annoyed if she had to go through another year of school, whilst you got to sit at home all day!" Frank laughed. The group agreed.

"Ok so maybe taking a gap year wouldn't be a great idea." Remus laughed.

"Here." Severus said taking some vials out of his pocket. The group looked confused.

"It's the next couple of month's supply of your potions, to last you over the summer, just in case we don't see each other in time." Remus thanked Sev and put the vials safely tucked away in his trunk with Sev's protection spell around them to stop them from breaking.

"Mate are you seriously thinking about asking Alice to marry you?" James asked Frank.

"Serious enough to have already asked her parents permission." The boys looked at him.

"They were a bit worried, I guess they though that we'd done something and we needed to get married, but once I assured them they were perfectly happy with it and gave me their permission. My mum even gave me this." Frank said pulling a ring box from his trunk. He opened it to reveal a gold engagement ring with a small clear diamond in the centre. Frank pulled it out of the box and passed it to Severus.

"Mum told me it was my grandmother's ring and that before she died she told mum to give it to her son to pass on to his future wife." Severus was inspecting the gold band when he asked,

"Is this some kind of rune on the outside?"

"Yeah apparently it's some kind of protection spell." Frank said taking the ring back and showing it to Remus and James, then passing it to Sirius before putting it back in the box and into his trunk.

"So your really gonna ask Alice to marry you?"

"Yep, hopefully over the summer, I've kinda got the idea to go for a romantic picnic somewhere as Alice likes being outdoors, and then asking her. Obviously we won't get married till after we graduate uni though."

(In the girl's dorm)

"I'm really gonna miss this." Tonks said, "after you guys leave, I'm gonna have to go back to staying in my dorm every night with people I don't even know." The girls laughed.  
>"Maybe you could ask Professor McGonagall if you could move in here permanently?" Maddy joked. Tonks threw her pillow at her.<p>

"I still can't believe we have only one more night here before we go home." Lily said folding the last of her clothes and placing them on top of her trunk ready for the morning. Rachel sighed.

"Have you said 'goodbye' to McGonagall yet?" Alice asked.

"Well kinda. I've already had my last lesson and I left a present in the draw of her desk hidden so she'll get it once we leave."

"What was it?" Tonks asked.

"A picture and a thank you note. And I'll say a proper goodbye to her tomorrow and to all the teachers I suppose, I've written out loads of thank you notes for all of them. Would you mind coming with me to deliver them?" The girls nodded, meanwhile whilst no one was really paying any attention Maddy threw the pillow she was still holding at Tonks and hit her square on the face. She yelped and threw one back, but missed and hit Lily. Lily threw one at Alice and Alice threw one back and hit Rachel.

Soon the girls were having an all out pillow fight, yelling and shouting at each other before they burst out laughing and collapsed it a fit of giggles on beds and the floor.

"There is no way we are gonna lose contact when we all go to Uni." Maddy said trying to catch her breath back. "We all go stark raving crazy if we tried!" That set the girls off again.

"Guys?" Alice asked quietly as they began to climb into their beds. "Do you think Frank's going off of me?"

"Why would you think that? He's crazy about you!" Lily said straitening her pillow.

"He's been kinda distant these last couple of months, I mean sure he's still his normal self, but it feels like he knows something and he won't tell me."  
>"Maybe he doesn't wanna hurt you?" Tonks said. "Maybe it's something he thinks that it's something that would hurt you, and so he doesn't want to tell you."<p>

"Maybe he's gay." Maddy said as Alice hit her with a pillow again.

"Maybe he's planning a surprise for you." Rachel said.

"Maybe he's gonna propose." Lily said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"That'll be it." Maddy said.

"Do you really think so?" Alice said bewildered. "I mean I know we've been together for a while, and he's defiantly the man for me, but we still so young."

"Who cares about age when you're in love?" Rachel said shrugging. "If you wanna be together forever then why not get married young." The girls agreed.

"Would you say yes if he asked?" Tonks said with a grin, her hair turn a bright pink again. Alice beamed.

"Without a second thought."

Later that night, or early that morning, Rachel was awoken by an unfamiliar sound. It wasn't the usual snoring she heard from her sister and friends, or the tapping of footsteps as students went down to the common room early in the morning. She glanced to the side and looked at her watch, it read 4am.

"Who's up this time of the morning?" She said pulling her feet from the bed and into a pair of comfy trainers which she had planned on wearing that day. She pulled on her hoodie from the top of her trunk and placed her wand behind her ear. Quietly as not wake the rest of the room, she slipped out the dorm room and followed the sound down to the common room. Hearing nothing, she went to the portrait and looked out.

The corridor was in darkness, save for patches of moonlight bouncing in threw the windows. Many of the portraits were asleep; some still awake and smiled to her as she came outside of the Gryffindor tower. She nodded back and the portraits went back to what ever it was they were doing. Rachel knew that although the rules had been relaxed for the night due the party, it was still way too early for anyone to be out of their respective rooms. Suddenly she heard the noise again, this time it sounded like it was heading down the stairs and toward the outside of the castle. Pulling her wand from behind her ear, she quietly edged down the stairs and followed the sound. Some of the portraits turned and watched her as she walked away.

After a few minutes Rachel found herself in one of the courtyards of castle, standing almost directly underneath the moon. The courtyard was bathed in light, and she could see no one or nothing out of the ordinary. Sighing, she turned as if to head back to the castle, when the sound came again. This time it was closer, and Rachel could hear that it wasn't footsteps, it was a voice; a voice she didn't recognise.

'Follow me' came the whispery voice. It seemed as if it was travelling on the wind and the air, and almost as if on cue, the leaves in the courtyard blew in a small whirling wind, and landed at her feet. Clutching her wand tighter, she edged towards the voice, pulling her away from the safety of the castle, and to the danger of the dark of the morning.

Suddenly Rachel felt as if she had stepped through into another realm. The air seemed to have grown colder and muggier, and she could no longer hear the sounds of the castle. The ground felt different beneath her feet and she could have sworn her footsteps sounded like they were treading on frozen grass.

"Who's there?" She called out into the darkness.

'Follow me brave warrior' came the reply. Instantaneously she reached for her soul mark on her wrist, and held it as the mark became warm. Knowing that Severus would be feeling it too made her feel braver and again called out,

"Who are you, I demand you show yourself."

Suddenly a figure dressed in black appeared in the darkness, and Rachel could just about make out the face.

"You?" She said confused, when suddenly she heard footsteps from behind her. The figure in front muttered a spell and it hit Rachel's wand hand causing her to drop her wand. She turned to see a green light heading directly towards her. Light seemed to bounce off her, and then she fell into blackness.

**Ok so there is then ending of this chapter and I can announce that the next chapter will be the penultimate chapter with the epilogue following that. I would like to thank everyone who has read my story whether they have added it to any list or not, and I already have the sequel planned and will begin writing when Sisters of Magic is finished. I am however having trouble coming up with a story name so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions let me know it would be really helpful. Anyhow the usual applies please read and review, and I will be updating soon.**

**Thanks Beth xx**


	25. Chapter 24

**And here we are; the penultimate chapter. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has made some sort of contribution/suggestion/review or anything to the story. (I will be making a full thank you list on the next chapter) I can also officially announce that I have begun the planning for my next story and it will be posted after Sister's Of Magic is completed. I am still looking for a name though so any suggestions are still more than welcome. **

Chapter 24

Severus awoke quickly, his eyes wide and gasping for breath. 'What a horrible nightmare.' He thought to himself. It was almost as if he had seen a scene from a horror film played out in front of his eyes. He dreamt that Rachel had been in a fight with another wizard. The said wizard had an accomplice who had quickly disarmed Rachel, before the other had fired a spell right in her direction. The bolt of green light hit her body square in the chest and as it bounced off her body and back towards the wizard who fired the spell, she fell to the ground. Her wand flew away from her body, but all Severus could look at was the body of his true love lying almost dead on the floor. That was when he woke up.

His sudden rise had alerted Frank who was sleeping in the bed next to him, and being the light sleeper Frank was, he also woke up.

"Sev mate, you ok?" Frank asked in the almost darkened room.

"Really bad dream." Severus said still trying to catch his breath. Frank reached out for his wand and quickly muttered the 'Lumos' spell to light the room. Severus had sweat running down his face, his skin was deathly white, and his eyes were huge.

"Mate you look like you just seen a ghost."

"I thought…" Severus tried to say, but the light from Frank's wand caused the others to also awaken and begin to moan.

"Turn it off!" James mumbled into his pillow. Sirius just grunted, and Remus sat up rubbing his eyes. He saw Severus and quickly got out of bed. Hearing Remus's footsteps James turned over in his bed and switched on the light by his bed, this now meant that all the boys could see Sev's deathly complexion and were instantly awake.

"Mate you ok?" They all asked.

"Nightmare…Rachel… Seemed real." Was all Severus managed to utter. His arm felt really warm as he looked down. His mark was clearly visible and it seemed to have become ever so slightly faded in colour.

"What's that?" James asked. The others looked at where James was now pointing. Frank and Remus knew instantly what it was and turned to look at Sev in amazement.

"I thought they were a myth." Frank mumbled.

"I need to see if Rachel's ok." Severus said and quickly clambered out of bed and rushed out of the room. The boys quickly followed trying to catch their friend before he did something silly.

"Sev!" Sirius called out as Severus ran towards the stairs leading up to the girl's dorms, before the stairs turned into a slide and he fell back into the common room.

"Damn, I forgot about that." Severus said as Remus helped him up.

"Look mate, she'll be fast asleep. It was a dream." Sirius added.

Suddenly the main door to the common room flew open and in stepped Professor McGonagall.

"Why are you all out of bed?" She asked her eyes transfixed on the boys.

"We're sorry Professor; Sev had a bad dream and just wanted to check Rachel was ok." James said.

"Miss Evans is fine, now all of you back to bed."

"Professor you don't understand." Sev quickly rushed to her and held out his arm. She took one look before something clicked in her mind.

"Wait here, I will check on Miss Evans."

McGonagall quickly hurried up the stairs to the dorm room she was interested in. Hoping and praying that what she was thinking hadn't happened; she pushed open the door to the room and went inside. Her hurrying and cause some noise which awoke Alice and Maddy. Both were confused as to why their teacher would be coming into their room so early in the morning. McGonagall took one look around the room, before her eyes fell on Rachel's bed; her empty bed.

"Miss Francis, Miss Cross, wake you fellow room mates immediately." She said before hurrying into the bathroom, to check on one was in there. It too was empty. By the time she emerged Lily and Tonks were awake and rubbing their eyes.

"What?" Tonks mumbled. McGonagall wasted no time.

"Have any of you seen Miss Evans?" Lily looked confused.  
>"I'm here."<p>

"Your sister."

"She's there." Lily said pointing to Rachel's bed, when she too noticed it was empty. In that second she was wide awake.

"Where's my sister?"

"That is what we need to find out. Grab your wands and follow me." She said before rushing out the room again. The girls did as they were told, and hurried after their teacher.

They found the boys standing in the common room, waiting and watching the stair case. When they saw the girls coming down, minus Rachel, they began to panic.

"Where is she?" Sirius asked.

"She's not with you?!" Lily asked horrified as James hugged her.

"When was the time any of you saw Rachel Evans?" McGonagall demanded. The group all began to talk at once.

"One at a time!"

"It was after the ball." James said.

"We were chatting in here, when we decided to go to bed." Alice added.

"Rachel and the girls went to their rooms after we said goodnight." Frank said.

"We talked for a bit." Maddy said.

"And we had a pillow fight." Tonks added.

"Before we all went to sleep." Lily said.

"Did anyone hear anything, anything at all?" McGonagall said with a hint of desperation in her voice. The all shook their heads.

"Wait!" Alice said suddenly. The group stared at her. "I did hear something. I went to go to the loo earlier, and just as I was drifting back to sleep, I thought I heard someone get up. I opened my eyes, but I couldn't see anything, so I thought nothing of it and went to sleep."

"What time saw this?"

"About 4 I think?"

"I know Rach get's up early, but I think 4 is a little too early for her." Maddy added.

McGonagall stood thinking for a second.

"Come with me all of you, we need to find Professor Dumbledore."

The group quickly left the tower with McGonagall sending her patronus of a cat ahead to awaken Dumbledore. By the time they reached his office the said wizard was standing outside waiting for them. He too looked worried.

"Minerva, I got your message. You say Miss Evans is missing?"

"Well I don't want to jump to any conclusions, but she's not in her dorm." Dumbledore looked around and noticed that the light was beginning to creep over the sky to signal the start of the new day.

"Children, we will split into groups and search the castle. Then once we can see better and ore of the staff are awake, we will search the grounds of the castle." Dumbledore saw the worry in the group's eyes.

"Don't worry, we will find her." He said.

By the time the rest of the students awoke the Maurders had search most of the inside of the castle. Dumbledore had alerted the portraits and they too were searching for Rachel. The portraits that he seen her that morning helped all they could to aid in search, and the ghosts and house elves had taken it upon themselves to search many parts of the castle which inaccessible to others. By breakfast there was still no sign of Rachel anywhere. Dumbledore told the group to and change into something warm and report to the Great Hall for breakfast. He would an announcement to the students and staff then, and then they would continue the search. Lily and Severus were very reluctant to stop searching, it took the rest of the group to convince them that they couldn't function on an empty stomach, and as the day was evolving, it was turning out to be a cold day.

The group were silent as they entered the Great Hall. Dumbledore and McGonagall had alerted the staff, and as they entered the room, the students saw that something was wrong instantly. The chatter stopped and all heads turned to headmaster as he rose to his podium.

"I will keep this announcement short. During the night one of students went missing." Whispers began to circulate around the room, and heads turned trying to see who was missing.

"I do understand that you all will probably have plan for today, but it would be greatly appreciated if any of you would be able to help in the search." Clara, the seventh year Hufflepuff prefect, raised her hand.

"We in Hufflepuff will all help to find the missing student." She said her voice ringing clear.

"As will the Ravenclaws." Another prefect stated.

"Who's missing?" Asked one of the Slytherin's.

"Miss Rachel Evans, of Gryffindor house." Came McGonagall's short reply. The room stared at the Maurders. Lily buried her face into James jumper, whilst the others just looked blank. A few of the Slytherin's refused to join the search, but surprisingly most of them volunteered to search, including Narcissa and Lucius.

"All those who wish to join the search, will you please return to your dorms and change into something warm, and report back here in 20 minutes."

20 minutes later, the Great Hall was filled student, all from different years and houses. Each head of house took control of their students.

The first through to the fourth year Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaws, were to search the castle again from top to bottom. Professor's Flitwick, Sprout and Slughorn volunteered to stay behind along with the Librarian Miss Pince and the Caretaker Argus Filch.

Professor Hooch took all of the students involved in the Quidditch teams out on brooms to search from the sky, along with Professor Siniatra, the astronomy professor who herself had once been an excellent flyer.

Professor James, the current DADA professor and the rest of the first through to fourth year students began to search the grounds of the castle along with Professor Vector, the Arithmancy teacher, and some of the house elves.

Hagrid took the seventh years into the forbidden forest along with Professor Burbage, the Muggle studies teacher, and they began to search. Fang and Buckbeak came too and helped as much as they could.

McGonagall took the rest of the students down to Hogsmead.

The ghosts and portraits also took to searching wherever they could, along with the other House elves acting as messengers running and disapperating between the groups.

Dumbledore stayed with the Marauders in his office.

Through out the day patronus'es came in and out of the office, along with house elves, ghosts, students and teachers. But still no word came about Rachel. Dumbledore had alerted the ministry when lunch time came around and there was still no word. William, Elizabeth and Petunia Evans had been gotten and they currently sat in the headmaster's office hugging Lily and her friends. For the whole day Severus wouldn't say a word. Dumbledore had explained to the group about the Soul Marks, and although they were shocked that they had been kept in the dark, they understood why.

By night fall there was still no sign of Rachel anywhere and the students had begun returning to the castle.

"We can't give up!" Elizabeth Evans cried. "My baby is out there somewhere." William held his wife.

"Darling they are doing everything they can." The auror's had arrived and had begun searching the air for any magical trace, when Mad Eye Moody entered the room. His face looked grim.

"What have you found?" William asked.

"We have located a weak trace which suggests Rachel made have moved over to another location."

"What do you mean? I thought you couldn't apperate out of Hogwarts." Maddy said.

"Not apperated, but was moved. It appears there was a trans-dimensional vortex opened which Rachel has more than likely crossed over into."  
>"So she could be anywhere?" Petunia asked, her voice quivering. Lily just burst into tears, and James just took his girlfriend into his arms. The group crowded around her, Sev and Rachel's family. Together they cried for the friend and sister they had lost.<p>

Over the summer the group stayed at the castle along with their respective family members and spent day after day searching for Rachel. The graduation ceremony was covered by a cloud of darkness and sadness over their fallen friend. Dumbledore had promised to keep Rachel's graduation certificate in his office until the day she would return. Sybil Trelawney the divination professor kept repeating a prophecy she had had, stating that like Potens, Rachel would one day return and all would be right again.

**And there we go. I hope I haven't upset any of my readers. So one more chapter to go and then that's it. My reviews currently stand at 77 and I would love to get to 80 reviews by the time I begin my next story. For those of you waiting to get another chapter of my NCIS story, I am trying to update, but I have a serious case of writer's block. Anyway please please please please read and review and I will update with the final chapter very soon. **

**Thank you, Beth xx**


	26. Chapter 25 - Epilogue

**And here it is my final chapter, please enjoy, she says with tears in her eyes :( **

Chapter 25 - Epilogue

It was dark. It seemed as if the night had drawn in and shut off the entire world, covering it in a blanket of darkness. There was a single slice of moonlight that wasn't hidden by the trees which covered the unconscious form, lying on the grass. The form stayed still as the sky began to cry, tears falling onto everything and anything. In the distance noises of a town life began to stir. Cars rushing home to get their occupants home safe and sound, birds twittering to each other trying to find shelter from the onslaught of water, other wildlife trying to do the same, people rushing to and fro and the hurried noises of umbrellas opening and being attacked by the water.

All the while the form stayed still, not noticing the grass becoming damp and hustle and bustle around them. The wind gained power and was able to blow through the trees and the unconscious figure, gently rolling the body so that part of the persons arm and fingers could be visible. The fingers were clutched together as if they had once been holding onto something for dear life. The skin was a white as a sheet, almost ghostly. But the arm around the wrist seemed to be warmer than the other skin. Although it too was white, it seemed to have a more human like appearance, almost suggesting as if all the blood in a person's body was trying to keep this one part of the body alive; to reach out to someone, or something.

As the sky continued to pour down, and single solitary drop hit one of the fingers of the body. The finger moved. Another drop hit another finger, it too moved. A few more drops hit a few more fingers almost as if it was giving life to the almost dead form. One drop hit the wrist, and the body stirred. A small and almost silent moan could have only been heard by someone standing almost next to the body, gradually grew in volume, until it filled the surrounding air. The arm moved and gently found itself under the body, as the form moved into a sitting position.

"Ouch." Came a feminine voice, raising the said wrist to her head, and placing a wet hand over her forehead. The figure raised her head to the sky and raindrops fell onto her face. It was then she noticed the cold.

She turned her head to see that she was wearing very thin pyjamas, which although they covered her body, did nothing to protect her from the onslaught of water being pelted onto her already soaked body. The clothes were sticking to her showing her short figure, her dark hair almost invisible in the dark night was plastered all over her face and head, and she was forced to remove her hand from her face and to move the stuck hair from her face. Her eyes grew accustomed to the darkness and she turned her head around to try and discover where she was. Slowly she placed one foot in front of another removing herself from the forest of trees she found herself in. Carefully as almost as if she was treading on glass, the girl placed one foot in front of another in her quest for safety.

She was only walking for a minute or two, when to her horror she discovered she had no idea where she was going. As hard as she tried, the idea would not come to her frozen mind. All she could remember was one thing: "Castle." She muttered to herself.

"I need to get back to the castle."

As the rain continued to pour, the girl knew it must be nearing night time, and as much as she didn't want to admit it, she knew that she wouldn't be able to find somewhere to sleep tonight. With the concept in mind, she decided to try and find the safest and warmest place she could, and settle down for the night. Turning the gaze of her sapphire blue eyes around the area she had stopped in, she spotted a set of bushes a little way a head of her. They looked warm and inviting in the freezing cold night. She quickly hurried to the bushes and slid slowly to the ground, pulling her knees close to herself, to try and conserve as much of her body heat as she had left. The girl shivered in the cold. She had so little body heat left, she was on the verge of passing out with the cold, when she heard the voice of her saviour.

"Whats that?" The girl squinted in the dark and was able to make out a woman making her way towards her. The woman hurried towards the girl when she realised what it was she was looking at.

"Nick it's a girl!" The girl turned her gaze to see an older woman rushing to her aid. Following her came a man, two boys and a girl about her age.

"She's frozen." The man, Nick she thought his name was, ripped off his coat, and handed it to the woman who wrapped it around the girls frozen shoulders, trying desperately to keep some warmth in the girls shivering body. The rain continued to pelt down on the family as they attended to the girl.

"Who are you?" One of the boys asked. The girl was about to respond when she realised she had no idea who she was. Her eyes must have given away how scared she felt, because the woman pulled her close and hugged her.

"Don't worry sweetie, we'll get you somewhere safe."

"The café's around here mum, grandma Joan should still be there." The man nodded and slowly he and his wife took the girls arms and helped her to her feet.

"Come with us darling, you're safe now, we'll get that cut seen to as well." The girl reached up with a hand to feel a lightening shaped cut on her forehead. 'Was that there before?' The girl thought, but nothing came to her mind. She simple had no idea who she was.

**And here we are. I really can't believe we have come to the end of this story. I posted the prologue way back in October 2011, and I am so happy with the response I have gained since. I am at nearly 80 reviews for my story and I am so amazed as I really thought that it would be a load of rubbish. I would like to say a massive thank you to all the people who have liked my story:**

AntiSocialBookWorm, BarrellMcDragon, BookwormStrawberry, ChelseaLouisePowell, Chipseet, DarkMoon010, Brace MalfoyGirl 16, Eliza'Lizzie'Williams, Fan of Hina-chan, FonzFan, GodlsReal93, Kanika Kiku, Lady Fon Slytherin, Lilith 1323, Lucky Girl 81, LunarisMalfoy, Luzydeath, MaeSilverpaws1, Mikomi121, Missyick, Miumiu 23, Morbid Naneko, PrettyKittyPryde, , Ruti7533, Skylar97, Terra1993, TheMidnightwolf15, TokioHotel15, Twilightgirl105, blackphoenix23, brooke.h16, c7a7t7, cbred13, crazy1person2you3benn4warned, danie568, danikamarel, ekin4655, hangergamespettalover, julio90, lightbabe, midnight1221, mike raven, najamuzen, navybluebookworm, purrsain, revengerufus, sessysbaby666, the most fun, xxTemporaHarknessxx (and finally) zamzym.

**Another massive thank you to everyone who has been following my story:**

1995girl13, , AnironMor, BlueIvy10373, BookwormStrawberry, ChelseaLouisePowell, CookieSpells4, Croonsgirl, Draco MalfoyGirl 16, EmmettAndAliceCullenRule2, Fan of Hina-chan, Fonzfan, HetaliaHostClubfan99, Hiwatarigurl38, Hammellberry94, ILoveReadingAndWriting, JulPer12, Lil Hatchet Da Lette, MaeSilverpaws1, MarauderGirl2, Miumiu23, Mrs. Mercer-Torretto-Malfoy, Narnia and Harry Potter 4 EVER, PurpleBullet, Regin, Ruri7533, SilverDoe96, Skylar97, Taintednightstar, Terra1993, TheMidnightwolf15, The Moving Crossbow, Weird1, ZoeLouiseLupin, auazasda, britstar4, brooke.h16, carmeleissle5cullen, cbred13, dreamsmadereality, ekin4655, electrogirl88, hopeseternalflame, hangergamespettalover, jigokunooujo, just a girl in love, lifeisanoccasion, midnight1221, moonlight phonex101, nativewonder, navybluebookworm, nicolemarie1988, nightworldangel, princessyuki08, sessysbaby666, tegfhorn, the most fun, xFender'sGirlx, xxTemporaHarknessxx (and finally) xxxMadameMysteryxxx.

**And last but by now means least, a huge huge huge thank you to everyone who has ever reviewed my story: (takes a deep breath)**

Dragonsgirl16, BarrellMcDragon, MilliePrue-BellatrixLestrange, Cheshire, revengerufus, Pigfarts23, Kittyprettypryde, DGfleetfox, electrogirl88, XxBlindXxAngelXx, The Yoshinator (still loving the name :), xSyNyStErX, brooke.h.16, Loves to read books, Purplebullet, crazy1person2you3been4warned, ekin4655, lightbabe, snowdrop1905, Guest, HetaliaHostClubfan99, xXMelloxRebekahXx, Narnia and Harry Potter 4EVER, Amanda, Tigerlily, xxxMadameMysteryxxx, and-then-they-died, Hummelberry94, , Kylie o3o, xxTemporaHarknessxx, MaeSilverpaws1 (and finally) nicolemarie1988.

**All my life I have loved reading and writing and to know that people out there are reading my work and enjoying it, is one of the greatest feelings I've ever had. I promise I will be bringing Rachel back, I have grown to love her and there was no way I could leave the story there. Please keep an eye on my profile and I will post a message onto the end of this story when I post the sequel. **

**Until then, enjoy my work, re-read 'Sisters Of Magic' and as ever, read and review. **

**Thanks and hope to hear from you all soon. **

**Bethxx**


	27. Author's Note

**Hello to all my readers, this isn't a new chapter, but I promised I would let you know when the sequel would be up and ready to read, and I am pleased to announce (drum roll inserted here) that my sequel's first chapter has been posted!**

**It's called 'Finding Magic' and I hope that you will enjoy it as much as 'Sister's Of Magic'. Please please please leave a review; I would love to hear from you guys.**

**So enjoy and I will hope to hear from you all soon, and for those awaiting a new chapter to my NCIS story 'A Love That Would Last Forever' I have another chapter in the works and will be posting it as soon as I can.**

**Beth xx**


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